


Hypnagogic Panic

by asphoyew



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-01-17 06:34:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1377454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asphoyew/pseuds/asphoyew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a night of fun on a leisure asteroid, Rose is plagued by vivid dreams that start to make her question where the dreams end and where reality begins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A huge thank you to RishiDiams for beta-ing this fic. This person is my hero.

Rose and Captain Jack stepped out of the TARDIS and into the end of a long and narrow alley way. Large dumpsters and sheet metal overhangs blocked the view of the street at the other end of the alley, but light seemed to reach far enough back that the two of them had no trouble stepping around the ground litter as they made their way towards the other end.

"You are going to love this." Jack looped Rose's arm through his with a grin, offering a gentlemanly escort as the walkway began to clear enough for them to comfortably walk side by side.

“So where are we anyway? Not just New Bangkok.” She returned to him a carefree grin of her own. “Give me a bit more than that.”

“Well, let’s see. We’re on a mostly human populated asteroid. We’re in one of the best night club hot spots in the 64th century. We’re in one of my favorite places.” He said it all like he was going through a mental list bullet points. “And since the Doctor is trusting me to lead you around this place safely, I’m the expert.”

Rose snorted. “You’re the expert here because the Doctor is too classy to spend his time at nightclubs.”

“Are you saying I’m not a classy guy, Rosie?”

The pout that was on his face almost had Rose believing he was actually hurt. Almost. The Doctor never said outright that he was too good to go the nightclubs of New Bangkok with the two of them, but there was no doubt in her mind that maintenance on the TARDIS was a far more desirable activity than sweaty apes and aggravating music.

“Not Time Lord classy.” Her smile was mischievous. 

“Anyway,” he dropped the pout, “Basic Rose rules still apply. No wandering off. No going home with strange aliens. Non-negotiable.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, pretty lady, Doctor’s orders.”

She was just about shoot back an indignant response when the two of them entered the main street and Rose gasped instead. Lights everywhere. Neon lights lined the street, up and down as far as the eye could see. Holograms of beautiful women, human and alien, enticed the passersby into their club with promises ranging from cheap drinks, to the top DJ’s, with hints of sex sprinkled in between. All kinds of species, some she was familiar with and others she was not, walked the streets, avoiding street performances and the occasional gawking bystander.

Rose loved the energy. She loved the cacophonous blend of people talking, yelling, singing. The fact that most of the species walking by had some sort of recognizable smile was the part that Rose found herself enjoying the most. It reminded her of the Doctor and his crazy grins. He may not have struck her as much of a club goer but the Doctor would have loved the good energy just as much as she. The expression of pure joy on his face would have matched the one currently on her own.

"This is so amazing. We hardly come to places like this."

Jack gave her a dazzling smile and maneuvered them down the street.

"Well I thought I'd give you a chance to see another side of the universe. Put a little Harkness spin on your normal, dreary traveling."

"Oh, whatever." Rose smacked his arm gently with her free hand. "I love all the places we go, even the dreary ones."

"Right." He laughed. "I'm sure the Doctor could take you to see a bunch of rocks and as long as he was there, you'd love them."

A soft pink tinged Rose's cheeks but she barked out a hearty laugh.

"He has shown me rocks, and you know what? They were amazing."

Jack's laugh joined hers and he turned her toward a restaurant that advertised a fusion menu of Thai and Vaegoshian.

*************

After the restaurant, Jack showed her around to a couple of his favorite clubs. He told her what he could remember about the basic rules of etiquette, which hadn't seemed to have changed much since her time. Most of it was just accommodation for newer species. He told her the things to watch for, in particular the more unsavory patrons, so that she wouldn't be drugged or unknowingly invite unwanted attention. He suggested a couple of drinks that might appeal to her 21st century tastes and ones to avoid so as not to incur a trip to the infirmary.

So far the night was turning out to be fun but relatively uneventful. She only indulged in two drinks so far. The first was a foamy pink concoction that had tasted like bubble gum, and the second was a variant of a sangria. She danced with or around Jack most of the time, not actively trying to follow the Don’t Wander Off rule, but simply because he was genuinely fun to dance with. 

They were currently at the third club and Rose was ready to take a quick rest from all the swinging and gyrating. She caught Jack’s eye and pointed at the bar before making her way over to take a seat and order another drink Jack had recommended called Gorpus Blood, on a whim. The name definitely didn’t sound very appetizing but when the bartender brought her the thick purple drink, she took a swig and found that the mildly sweet and flowery flavorings were very much to her liking. 

With only three drinks over the course of the night, Rose was feeling a pleasant buzz. It was getting to be the end of the night and with no one immediately around her, she let her mind wander in the direction of the TARDIS. She wondered what the Doctor was up to right at that very moment. Obviously he was working on the ship, but was he half hidden under the console? Had he retreated to the depths of the ship to get the proper wiring that he required? Was he taking a break in the galley with a cuppa in his hand and his ship in his thoughts?

Rose supposed he pretty much did the same thing regardless of whether he was with his companions or not. Occasionally she would get him to sit down and read to her or watch a show. He'd get fidgety before too long though, and head back to whatever he was doing before she had interrupted him.

The little moments where she got him to sit and relax felt like little victories. No matter how much he claimed he hated domestics, getting him to sit down with her and take a load off always felt a little domestic, and it was her opportunity to indulge in a fantasy that they were together. Her and the Doctor, more than just mates. She could dream.

She was brought out of her thoughts by a brown hand with bony ridges waving back and forth in front of her face.

"'Ello, 'Ello! You're doing right, all right?"

Rose blinked and followed the hand to its owner.

"Okay, Okay, you're feeling, yes?"

Sitting on the bar stool beside her was a dark skinned humanoid with bony ridges on his cheeks and chin that matched the ones on his hands. He seemed unable to sit still, like he was sitting in water and the current was slowly moving his limbs this way and that. He smiled at her with what she supposed were healthy grey teeth. Despite the ridges, he looked friendly enough. He’d probably spotted her sitting at the bar daydreaming about the Doctor and thought he'd strike up some friendly conversation. 

Offering a smile of her own, Rose turned more towards the alien to her right and took a healthy swig from her barely touched, purple beverage. 

"Feeling just fine, thank you. Just lost in my thoughts."

The alien drifted closer to the bar and propped his jaw up on his hand, just behind his chin.

"Who is so lucky, to have your attention, so much?" He gazed at her intently, head tilting ever so slowly.

"No one here." Rose took a sip.

"He left you, alone? Here?" He gasped with shock like he couldn't believe such an injustice could have taken place.

She snickered at his reaction. "No, I'm here with a friend."

Rose craned her neck back at the dance floor behind her. She couldn't make out whether Jack was still there or not, but she figured he wouldn't have gone far if he wasn't.

"Dancing then, you’d like to? This person, he won't mind, yes?"

A dance couldn't hurt. She had just stepped away to order a drink and take a breather, not to mention, she was a bit curious to see if such an alien danced well. He didn't seem to be able to control his straying limbs, much less move to a beat. She couldn’t recall ever seeing such an alien before. She made a mental note to ask the Doctor about it when she went back to the TARDIS.

Her smile grew, and she downed her drink. "I suppose one dance couldn't hurt." 

The alien's eyes gave the briefest of flickers towards her drink and she wondered if something didn't change ever so slightly in his eyes. Something so minor she couldn't quite place the look.

Shrugging it off as something imagined, Rose got up off her stool. Her new friend followed her gracefully, almost cat-like, and a small movement on the lower back of her shirt alerted to his hovering hand.

It was then that Jack stepped out of the crowd and made his way towards her, his smile warm and friendly, but his eyes seemed nearly hawklike. Rose felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle. She was unsure if the alien would be able to pick up on Jack's look but it was clear as day to her.

"Rosie! I think it's getting a bit late, don't you? Better get back before the Doc comes out searching for us."

He walked up to Rose and threaded her arm through his just as he’d done earlier in the night, though it seemed like this time there was a measure of possessiveness that hadn't been there before. Jack pulled himself up a little taller, but kept a friendly face. 

"Hate to steal your dance buddy, I really do," there was a touch of fake guilt now, "but if I don't get this little lady home, there's gonna be hell to pay."

The Captain's arm was tense. He was a good actor for sure, a natural con-man, but Rose could feel it in their threaded arms. 

The alien was now standing directly across from the both of them and his face had lost a lot of its original friendliness. Even his body seemed to still just a bit. Rose's stomach felt a bit ill but she was unsure if it could all be contributed to the possible danger. 

"It's not a problem, it's not." His eyes bore into Jack's but it was obvious he didn't want to create a scene. "Hoping a good night, you both...yes."

Jack gave the brown, ridged alien a quick mock salute before turning the both of them to move towards the door.

The trip back to the TARDIS was a straight shot down the main road of lights they had first started off on. As they walked, Jack was mostly, and uncharacteristically, quiet. She knew he wasn't entirely what he put out for the world to see, that there was a calculating and intelligent man underneath the smiles and charm, but seeing it tonight was just this side of unnerving. As her senses began to deteriorate from the alcohol, she pondered on how at this very instant, Jack wasn't unlike the Doctor. When he realized she was watching him, his whole demeanor lightened, but there was still a bit of that underlying tension.

"Sorry to just whisk you off there sweetie, but I don't want the Doctor coming out to search for us, if you know what I mean."

She nodded and looked up at a holographic brunette blowing her a kiss.

"That guy back there," she scrunched her face a bit. "The Klingon."

She relaxed a bit when she heard Jack laugh.

"Why were you concerned about him?" 

She looked back at him and his face was thoughtful.

"Look, I trust you, Rose, but that guy was up to no good."

"I don't know, he was just looking for a dance..."

"Just trust me."

She looked back up at the holograms. This time it was some character doing a silly dance. 

"I do-"

"Here we are!" He turned the both of them into the alleyway with the TARDIS at the end, and Rose felt her head begin to spin a bit.

Jack plastered a smile on his face and pulled his arm out of hers to wrap around her shoulders as they strolled towards the ship. 

"Look, it was probably nothing. Just...why don't we keep this between you and me?" He ruffled her hair affectionately.

Rose nodded, seeing the wisdom in that. She and the Doctor were just mates, but he was protective and she didn't want him to give Jack the boot for not being by her side 24/7.

"Good." He gave her a charming grin. "Let’s get in there and have a snack. All that hip thrusting has me famished!" 

He let her go and threw his arm up over his eyes, letting out a dramatic sigh.

Rose giggled and pulled her key out from under her shirt to unlock the TARDIS door.

*********

A chime accompanied by a flash of circular Gallifreyan across the display alerted the Doctor to the completion of the latest diagnostic test. He unhooked the wires that were threading out from under the TARDIS root system and started efficiently stashing away the testing equipment in its case, running through a mental checklist of the things that were complete and what still needed to be checked on. He had originally estimated it would take somewhere in the area of 36 hours to complete all the required TARDIS maintenance and it appeared he was right on schedule. If he didn’t sleep tonight they’d be ready to leave tomorrow, provided his companions didn’t make any last minute plans.

Now was a good time to take a break though. Absentmindedly, he scratched his nose with the tip of the sonic screwdriver and laid his other hand on the wall of the time ship. He shut his eyes and sent a telepathic inquiry as to whether Rose and Jack were aboard the ship or not and was met with the image of the galley blooming behind his eyelids.

With equal parts curiosity and excitement, the Doctor slid the sonic into his leather jacket pocket and started off towards the galley. He would pick up where he left off after seeing what his two companions were up to.

He was in front of the galley door about to hit the door release button when he heard two voices guffawing over some unheard remark. On a whim he stayed his hand and listened for just a second. With hearing like his, it was like he was in the room already.

"So I dragged his bloody arse up three flights of stairs because he was too pissed to even sit up straight. I couldn’t get him past the third floor," Rose's voice cut off and when she began again, her mouth was full. "So I walked up the stairs, got a blanket out of the closet and dropped it on him." Swallow. "I kinda...shoved him out of the way and let him sleep outside. I told him the next day that if he wanted me to start carrying him up the steps when he got too pissed, he'd have to pay for my gym membership."

The laughter picked up again. From the story and what he knew about her, the Doctor assumed that tale was about Mickey the Idiot. Not that it was any of his business, but the Doctor had always felt she could do better. Of course, she had vouched for Adam, too, and look how that had ended. Again, none of his business. He rolled his eyes and went to push the button again and this time it was Jack's voice that made him drop his hand.

"You're looking pretty sleepy there, Rosie. Why don't you hit the hay?” a little pause and his voice dropped to a tone that possessed a healthy mixture of mock-seduction and tease. “And by 'you', I mean how about you and me --"

A tide of irritation quickly swelled up within the Doctor only to be pacified by Rose’s answering laughter. "I don't think so, Jack." 

"Oh, all right,” Jack heaved out an over exaggerated sigh, “At least you can let me tuck you in?"

"I'll be fine." Her rejection of the Captain's advances was music to the Doctor’s ears, and pride bubbled up to mostly replace his earlier irritation. "’Sides, I think I’d like to take a shower first. Wash the Klingon off of me."

"How about a kiss goodnight? The hero at least deserves that." The Doctor held his breath. No, no, no...What hero?

The very distinctive sound of a kiss was audible from the other side of the door and he was shocked, she had actually kissed Jack. He supposed it had to happen at some point. For all the many faults the Doctor could count off about the con-man, bad looking and rude were not on that list. Not to mention, Captain Jack had been all over her ever since he’d saved Rose's life during the Blitz, and Rose didn't seem to be trying all that hard to fight off his advances.

It was none of his business. He shouldn't have even been eavesdropping. Kicking himself inside, the Doctor didn't feel like sticking around to hear what would happen next. Turning on his heel, he made his way back into the depths of the TARDIS to bury himself in the maintenance.

*********

Rose landed on the bed with a great flop, letting the force of the fall push out a contented sigh from her lips. She had opted for a relaxing bath instead of a shower so here she waited, front down on top of her covers, feet hanging off the corner, comforted in the sounds of the running water from her en suite, the ever present hum of the TARDIS, and the pleasant alcohol induced haze. 

She'd already shucked her clothing in preparation of the bath, uncaring where it had landed before, and now rested, nestled in her sheets in the plain matching lavender bra and panties. The warm temperature of her room draped over her like the feather-light duvet she now laid on top of. The fabric of the said duvet supplied an enjoyable level of friction against her uncovered cheek, stomach, and limbs. 

It almost felt like a spa. The atmosphere of her room, the sound of the running water, the sleepy relaxation helped along by the earlier alcohol. It felt like all the bad thoughts and feelings were sinking down into a murky pool while the good ones all floated soothingly to the top. Her head whirled while she visited those thoughts of New Bangkok's good energy, the pink foamy drink, her story of Mickey shared with Jack, teasing Jack with an over exaggerated smooch to the head. Most of all, she thought of the Doctor. She thought of his triumphant grins when he accomplished something impressive. She thought of his strong hand that gripping hers when they were fleeing. She thought of her face buried in his chest when they hugged. She thought of that compliment that he'd let slip (and quickly turned into a light insult) when she first stepped out in her evening gown for Naples (which had actually turned out to be Cardiff).

And while her head was a merry-go round of the Doctor, she drifted off to sleep.

*******

"Rose!"

She didn't even realize falling asleep. It couldn't have been for long, the bath water was still running. Her head felt like it was right in the middle between fog and mush. A strong and familiarly cool set of hands was already hauling her up from the bed while the panic in his voice worked to cut through the mess in her head.

"Rose, we have to go! The TARDIS is flooding!"

Wait, what?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-ed by Rishidiams

"Rose, we have to go! The TARDIS is flooding!"

Wait, what? 

The Doctor didn't wait for a reply. Quickly he grabbed her hand and was pulling her towards the bedroom door before she even had a chance to think up one. 

Between the drinks and her general exhaustion, Rose’s mind felt abnormally foggy. So many questions begged insistently in the back of her mind to be asked, but in situations of life and death and adrenaline, her instinct was to block out all but the basics; following the Doctor became her top priority. She had to assume this was one of those situations since the Doctor had not woke her up sweetly. Not that she knew what it was like to be woken up sweetly by the Doctor.

She kicked that stray thought right back to where it had snuck up from and tried to focus.

How could she have not awoken to the alert siren, which sent pure panic right through her ears and into her brain. Somewhere unseen, a thunderous waterfall obscured the ever present calming hum of the TARDIS. The emergency lights were flashing a pale white-purple against the pink coral detail on the walls. More importantly, she felt like she was looking at the world through some kind of distortion lens. Everything within direct view was saturated and magnified, while things seemed to blur and fade out immediately as they moved further out of her direct field of vision. 

The Doctor kept her hand firmly in his grip and they raced down the corridor, turning right, veering left, heading straight. The slaps of water became more audible and she looked down to see that while they had ran, the water-level had risen to cover the tops of her feet. Not stopping at her feet, Rose’s eyes moved further upward, and that is when she noticed offhand that she was only in her underthings. 

She had fallen asleep while running a bath for herself. There was no possible way the tub could have overflowed and caused this. But what if it had? Was it possible she could have caused all this just by forgetting to turn off the tap? Would the Doctor figure out what happened and toss her out of his ship for being negligent in her use of the bathtub? The unsettling thought had her wishing desperately that the Doctor would go easy on her if she had in fact nearly broke his beloved ship.

They ran and they ran. Why was it taking so long? Why hadn't they just run to the console room and out the door? One of the many questions that had been floating out of her grasp broke through her mental haze and floated to the front of her mind.

"Where's Jack?" She knew the Doctor's hearing was sharp but there was so much sound. Rose did her best to project her voice. "Is he okay?!"

The Doctor didn't show any sign of slowing his momentum but he turned his head towards her and shouted back.

"He's fine. I sent him ahead of us!"

"Where? The console room?"

The Doctor stopped just long enough to swing her around into a near u-turn and went down a way that Rose hadn't even seen coming.

"Why aren't we going to the console room?"

They stopped at a panel built into the wall and the Doctor dropped her hand to enter a code into the display. Immediately the ladder dropped from the ceiling.

"Up you go, then." A hint of amusement flicked over his features. 

Rose looked down at herself and recalled her state of dress, or rather her state of undress. She also noticed the water had risen to their knees. Embarrassment tugged at her brain but she refused to let it take over. Luckily she had worn lavender undergarments instead of white. White definitely would have presented a problem in the rising waters.

Quickly she scrambled up the ladder and through the newly opened manhole in the ceiling, which led her into some kind of circular, metallic air duct. The scent of ozone was sharp in her nostrils. She moved up and crawled aside, not actually able to stand because of the tight space, so that the Doctor could climb up as well.

He was up in no time, tripping some mechanism to close the manhole.

"I'm gonna need to take the lead on this one."

Before she could ponder what he was talking about, the Doctor crawled on his hands and knees towards her. She moved as close to the wall as possible to let him pass, but ended up sliding down onto her back when she lost her balance and slipped on the smooth surface. The direct touch of the metal sent an icy shock right through her. What was more shocking, however, was the Doctor slowly inching up her body in an attempt to climb over her. His hands on either side of her legs, then her waist. His jumper was almost ticklish as it brushed over her thighs. His open leather jacket dragged solidly up her sides, almost like a caress.

He finally settled in directly above her, eye to eye, his presence drowning out everything but the two them. Rose bit her lip, and watched as his eyes snapped down to follow the action, engrossed. There was little light in the duct but because of their proximity, she had an intimate view of his stormy eyes, prominent nose... those lips. The Doctor released a warm puff of breath she hadn’t noticed he’d been holding, and seemed to drag his eyes back up to hers. 

"Are you okay?"

"Okay?" Such a vague question.

"You slipped."

She breathed out a shuddering breath, not sure if it was their nearness or that damn cool metal on her back. She wanted to pull him down on top of her and demand he share that warmth he was radiating.

"Oh, I'm fine." She gave him a shy smile.

She wondered idly what he would do if she leaned up and swiped her tongue over his lip, his eyes going from her eyes to her mouth and back to her eyes again. She settled for swiping her tongue across her own bottom lip, entranced as she tried to spot any helpful hints his face would provide for such daring. He passed her a smile of his own, more subdued from his usual grins, and leaned down to brush his lips quickly against her cheek before he was up and crawling again.

Rose’s stupor put her into a momentary paralysis. The smell of spice and something alien cut through the ozone briefly and she wished with all her might that she could sear it into her memory forever, but already it was fading. All she could do was watch as he moved over her, careful not to knock her with his knees or boots. 

She didn't know how far he'd gotten before he must have realized she wasn't following. The sounds of his movement paused.

"Rose!"

His now commanding tone shaking her free of her temporary brain malfunction, Rose hopped up and scrambled quickly after him, letting the thoughts of the Doctor's scent and the ghostly feel of his lips slide out of her mind to focus on the here and now.

The air duct went straight ahead for awhile before it began to curve up on a gentle incline. Occasionally it would curve left or right but always it went up. Through the sides, the ever present waterfall and emergency sounds pounded into her ears. At some points, the water even sounded louder than the alarm. Jagged bolts and washers poked into the skin of her legs and palms but the resulting pain from any scrapes or knicks she might have received seemed dull and unimportant. 

Eventually the Doctor stopped and she almost bumped into him. There was no telling how long they had been in the tunnel. Rose certainly didn't have the same sense of time as the Doctor, and the whole time he hadn't supplied any clues. In the back of her mind, curiosity gently simmered over the Doctor’s previous actions. She wondered if he was thinking about what he'd done before, maybe even regretting it. Maybe the Doctor had gotten caught up in the moment of darkness and her general lack of clothing. Did he even care about that kind of thing?

Another triggered mechanism and the Doctor was pushing up on a trap door. This time he was first to climb up. 'Course. No ladder to stare up at my bum with. Rose released a rather unladylike snort and if the Doctor heard it, he didn’t give any reaction. Once he was out of the air duct, his hand stuck down through the opening and Rose latched on, using it to leverage herself as she climbed up. When she finally had a chance to inspect her surroundings, Rose was shocked to find them in another corridor that looked exactly the same as the one they had left behind earlier.

"Doctor, where are we going? I haven't seen any doors."

"We're going to the top, Rose. Keep up!"

Rose realized their hands were still clasped together when he pulled her along for a brisk walk down the corridor. They were walking quickly now, not running. The sounds were the same, the atmosphere was the same. The only difference here was that the water hadn't seemed to reach them just yet. But if the sound was any indication, she had no doubt in her mind that the water would catch up. She wasn’t entirely sure though.

"You didn't answer me before though." Despite their slowed action, her breath was getting short. "The console room."

"I can't fix the leak from there."

Abruptly she released a bark of laughter.

"Sounds like more than just a leak to me."

The Doctor tossed her back a grin without slowing down. 

She was beginning to worry though. The Doctor definitely seemed to know where they were going but the lack of doors made her feel like they were just aimlessly wandering, waiting for the water to overtake them. The water was rising quickly, too. How was it just over her knees? Rose’s head began to spin as her fatigue seemed to flash upon her. The water felt light and warm on her skin but moving through it felt like navigating through a pool of molasses. The Doctor never slowed but he had to feel the tension of her falling behind.

"Doctor, please tell me we're getting close."

Suddenly he stopped completely and twisted around to face her. If she hadn't been so far behind, Rose would have slammed right into his chest. As it was, she stopped just short, staring up questioningly to see why he’d stopped moving. He seemed to come to a silent decision because he nodded to himself and bent down, sweeping her up into his arms with one fluid movement.

Again, Rose was too shocked at the Doctor's behavior to do anything but gape as he turned and continued down the path he seemed to have mapped out in his head. Tonight had held more surprises than she could remember. Between the TARDIS flooding and the Doctor’s behavior, Rose had to wonder if the two occurrences weren’t linked in some way. 

"Grab a hold of me, Rose."

Her face grew hot and she hurried to wrap her arms around his neck. The heat of her blush completely warmed her chest and shoulders, distracting her senses from the feeling of the water against her exposed skin. His Time Lord physiology seemed to give him a boost in strength and stamina, because he moved easily through the water, carrying her like she weighed no more than a small plush rabbit. She couldn’t help but find his surprise strength a bit attractive. Who was she kidding? She found it more than a bit attractive.

The cool lap of the water around her back and the undersides of her breasts brought her attention back to how quickly everything was happening. The Doctor’s determination to reach the top of the TARDIS had him so engrossed that he’d not said a word since he had told her to hang on to him. They were coming to the first real door Rose had seen since the Doctor pulled her from her bedroom. A single door, dead center of a wall that marked the end of the corridor they’d been traveling down. 

They were right in front of the door when the Doctor released his arm from under her knees, letting her legs float down to stand in the chest deep-water. 

“There’s no telling how deep the water is in there, hold on to something.” He hit the release.

Rose was about to ask what she could possibly hang onto when a torrent of water knocked her back. She felt a hand grip onto her arm, steadying her from getting washed away, giving her enough time to shoot her other arm out and catch the door frame. 

The room had apparently been completely full of water but it took no time at all for the water levels to even out and stop the flow. The Doctor tugged her arm, motioning her first into the room. It was a medium sized room with shelving along all of the walls. The water, which was now just over her shoulders, had washed most of the clutter off of the shelves and onto the floor, leaving only the heaviest, unidentifiable knick knacks.

Instinctively Rose half swam, half waded towards the ladder, compelled to reach the only visible exit out of the room. This had to the be the top of the TARDIS. Her muscles were starting to feel like lead even though the Doctor had been carrying her since the air duct. The water sank and molded in around her torso, making her breathing become more forced than natural. It became a chore just to lift her arms. She knew she needed to get to that ladder but her body would simply not comply.

Rose felt two large hands grip her waist firmly and a wet leather jacket pressed firmly against her back.

“Keep moving.” 

Two rough words, spoken no louder than a whisper into her ear, seemed to slice through all the sound pushing in around her.

His hands guided her onto the first rungs of the ladder and sensing she wouldn’t be able to climb up alone, he stayed right behind her, one of his hands leaving her waist to grab a hold of the rung beside her head. 

“You can do it, just keep moving.”

She wondered if he knew what his words were doing to her muscles, giving strength and yet leaching it away at the same time. The way he molded his body around hers to help her keep steady and moving also made her want to lean back into his chest, press her bum into his thighs, tilt her head into his shoulder.

She dragged herself up to the next set of rungs. She barely notice the water steadily rising along with her upward climb.

He moved with her, keeping her stable, using his superior strength to support her. When one hand left her waist to haul himself up, the other came down to hold Rose steady from the other side. His grip slipped down to her hip, and it felt more like a caress.

The next time he took the initiative and pulled himself up, letting her use his momentum to take the next step.

Rose’s head tilted back against his shoulder, eyes reaching up to gauge the distance to the trap door. Lips grazed the soft skin just below her ear and her line of sight momentarily lost its focus.

“You’re doing great.”

She pulled herself closer towards the door and the Doctor again moved with her, switching hands. 

Tired fingers failed to firmly grasp the next rung and she felt herself begin to slide. His calloused fingers slipped forward to her stomach, a firm steadying grasp covering her belly. 

The Doctor’s hand left her stomach and grabbed the next rung, bringing the two of them nearly to the ceiling, and almost directly in front of the trap door. She felt his other hand appear where the other one had disappeared moments before. His calloused fingers splayed over her skin, gliding easily under the water, nearly swiping against the underside of her breast. A button that would open the door was clearly visible next to the rail of the ladder where it met the ceiling, but Rose was now almost reluctant to actually push it.

Head still tilted against the Doctor’s shoulder, Rose let her eyes fall shut. 

“You have to push the button.”

His voice was soft and low and it tickled her earlobe. She didn’t want to. Whatever was happening, she was perfectly content to let it continue. All thoughts of impending doom no longer existed in this bubble that he’d created around her.

“We have to leave.”

His fingers moved slowly up and down, up and down. His lips pressed a gentle, lingering kiss lower on her neck. A sigh tumbled from Rose’s lips. The distant churn of the water rising around her began to pierce through her Doctor filled haze. As much as she wanted to melt into him, she knew distantly that their time was running out. Two parts of her brain were at war against each other. One part was perfectly content to drown there in his arms. And the other demanded that she push the button and save them both.

Another kiss on her neck told her what needed to be done. 

Opening her eyes, she looked back up at the button and reached out to push it. The mauve alert seemed to shrill louder. The water and walls around her began to saturate further, the blur pulled away to the edges of her vision. The sweep of a tongue proceeding a warm open mouth kiss along her jaw.

She released a delirious groan and stabbed the button.

There was no time to react as the door deteriorated and wall of water slammed down upon the both of them.

********

The Doctor was soldering a wire when the TARDIS sent a series of alarming images flashing through his mind. Images of Rose in her undergarments stumbling through her room, face slack and eyes unseeing. TARDIS maintenance immediately forgotten, The Doctor already had his sonic screwdriver back in his jacket and was running towards his lovely companion’s room before all of the images had finished passing through his mind. From what he could tell, she had been sleepwalking, making circles around her room, even leaving her room briefly to wander the corridors before she’d made it back into her room and then her en suite where an already overflowing bathtub was running. The last image sent was of Rose laying face down on her water soaked bathroom floor. The Doctor swiftly entered her room, went straight to her en suite, and found her in the same position as what had been displayed to him by the TARDIS.

Without a second thought, he leaned down and gently hoisted her up into his arms. He moved her to her bed and laid her down upon it, careful not to jostle her too much in case she had some sort of injury. Immediately he went to find a towel in the en suite. He was very aware of her near nakedness but respect for her made him ignore any curiosity. She hadn’t moved when he returned with the towel. As carefully as possible, he sat her up and moved the towel under her body so that she could lay down on top of it. When he finished wrapping the towel protectively around her torso, he fished a blanket out of her closet and tucked it in over the top of her.

It was now that he was able to step back and inspect her for injury. There was definitely a bump on the upper left side of her forehead, probably from a trip, otherwise he hadn’t spotted any other visible injury. The TARDIS had shown him images of her sleepwalking which was unusual but not extremely uncommon amongst humans. The Doctor couldn’t recall any other instances of Rose having exhibited this trait but then again, he never actively monitored her sleep habits. The TARDIS wouldn’t have even alerted him to the event if she hadn’t tripped and injured herself. 

Reaching over, he laid his hand carefully over the uninjured side of her face. He pulled her eye open and was about to check her pupil’s reaction to light with his sonic when her other eye snapped open and stared up at him, mouth gaping as if to let out a scream.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-ed by Rishidiams

Rose stared, mouth agape, body rigid with terror. 

"Rose, wake up." The Doctor laid a tentative and comforting hand upon her shoulder, hoping to break whatever spell her dream had cast upon her. The minute his fingers came in contact with her skin, Rose began to thrash underneath her covers. Her eyes were animalistic and wild, jumping frantically from spot to spot, trying to get a grip on her surroundings. When they finally settled upon him, she was jumping out of her covers and scampering into his lap faster than he’d ever seen her move. Once she was curled up in his lap, her arms locked around his neck in a death grip. With their close proximity he felt her heart slamming into his chest in quick, hammering beats. He could smell the waves of fear mixed with a ghostly hint of arousal rolling off of her. 

"Are we ok?" She was panting out ragged breaths. "Are we at the top?"

"Rose, calm down."

The Doctor wrapped his arms around her in a secure embrace. He could feel her trying to burrow closer, fighting to seek comfort in his arms. Relaxing his mind, the Doctor let the barest trickle of calm reach out to envelop Rose. Any more would feel like an intrusion and Rose certainly wasn’t in the right state of mind to consent to anything further. The effects were immediate though. The thump of her single heart against his chest was beginning to slow down towards a normal human rhythm.

"It was just a dream," he soothed. "Just a dream."

One of his hands made its way to the small of her back, rubbing small soothing circles against her goosebumped flesh. 

"Did you fix it?" Rose's voice was muffled as her face had made it's way into the side of his neck. He could feel each heated breath she exhaled, a feeling that would have been exhilarating under other circumstances.

When he replied, he kept his voice low and his words light, not wanting to shatter the calming aura he was hoping to keep over her.

"Sure. Fixed everything up nice and tidy. Nothing to worry yourself about."

Rose relaxed considerably now, no longer clinging to him as though she expected to be torn at his arms at any moment. 

"Got a nasty bump on your head there."

"It hurts,” she replied softly.

He halted his movements against her back and pulled her head away from its position against his neck, cradling it as gently as possible. While he examined the injury, he reached for his forgotten sonic and cycled through the settings, reaching one that would temporarily ease the pain. A temporary, non-damaging isolated nervous confusion setting that almost erased pain for short amounts of time would be just enough to make it to the infirmary without her being in too much discomfort.

"We'll need to get to you to the infirmary. I want to check on your head before I let you get back to sleep."

He held the working end of the sonic screwdriver to her bump and turned in on briefly. The effect was instantaneous. The little discomforted crease between her brows smoothed and her lips relaxed into their more natural, fuller position. Her eyes were shut.

"Can you stand?"

A nod was her only response.

Carefully she climbed from his lap, his hands moved to her shoulders to keep her from stumbling. The Doctor looked around the room for any strewn about clothing that might be quick and comfortable enough for her to just slip on. His sweeping gaze finally settled upon a dressing gown that hung haphazardly from the side of the chair in front of her vanity. When it was apparent that she could stand unaided, the Doctor quickly scooped up the gown and helped Rose into it, making sure it was secure before he grabbed her hand and lead her to the infirmary.

*************

Upon reaching the infirmary, the Doctor led Rose right to an exam table located in one of the side rooms just off the main lab area. He helped her up onto the table and directed her to lie down as he fiddled with the brain scan machine. The tension on his companion's face told him that the isolated nerve confusion on her head injury was wearing off and the pain from the fall was setting back in again.

The Doctor swiveled the machine right above Rose's head and prepared it to start.

"Just lay back and relax. Won't feel a thing."

Rose nodded.

He pressed the start button on the control display attached to the machine. A low pitched hum filled the room and above the machine, a holographic representation of Rose's brain materialized, along with several diagnostic readings that showed nothing serious. He poked and prodded the image which turned and zoomed with each swipe of his finger. A relieved breath pushed past his lips.

"Is everything okay?" Rose's voice was tight with pain.

"You're fine. Just a big funny bump on your head." The Doctor slapped a grin on his face, even though Rose hadn't opened her eyes to look at him.

"Do you have something for this headache?"

The Doctor went back into the lab and retrieved the proper pain medication before returning back to the exam room where Rose laid. When he returned, she was no longer lying down though. She was now sitting on the edge, shoulders and head hung forward. He felt bad for her. She'd been out late drinking and then had managed to fall and hit her head, fairly soundly from the looks of it. And now she was probably dead tired and no doubt had a pretty mean headache.

"Just put one of these on your tongue and it will dissolve, no need for water. You shouldn't taste a thing." 

He popped open the medication's container and pulled out a single thin sheet of medicine. It was an opaque light blue, just about the size of two of her thumb nails side by side.

With seemingly great effort, Rose pulled her face up, gave him little thankful smile before opening her mouth and slipping the medicated sheet onto her tongue. A slight incline of her brows told him that she was surprised about the lack of bitter taste despite the fact he told her there wouldn’t be any. Further relaxation of her features gave a sure sign that the medicine was relieving her pain.

“Just take another when your head starts to hurt again. It shouldn’t for a while.”

The Doctor handed Rose the container and she slipped it into the pocket of her dressing gown. He then stood back on his heels and casually folded his arms across his chest. 

“Now, did you want to tell me what kind of dream had you running laps around your room?” At this point, he was more amused than anything. Rose was in passable condition, nothing a little more sleep couldn’t handle. It was time to relax just a bit.

Rose dropped her gaze down to the floor, somewhere to his left. She thought on it for a long moment before replying softly, “I don’t remember too much...Lots of running. Um...the TARDIS started flooding? And we were trying to get out.”

“Well I suppose your brain was just making sense of you lying in your bath water and all. Obviously you’re just tired of being cooped up on this asteroid.” The Doctor punctuated the remark with a big, goofy smile.

She turned her eyes back up to his and gave him a smile of her own, as large as her sleepiness would allow. “I can’t miss traveling only after one day.”

“It seems to me you’re missing it enough to dream about it,” if possible, his smile grew. “I think we should get you back to bed. Next time you fancy a run, you should wait until after you wake up.” 

He held out his hand to help her down from the table. She reached out and took his hand and he allowed himself to note how nice it felt, their hands together, before he helped her down from the table. As soon as she was firmly on the ground, he let go of her hand and was moving off into the main lab. Rose followed him to a large sink, instead of the exit, and he filled her up a glass of water, handing it to her.

“Just a glass before bed. It’s good to be hydrated, especially while you’re healing.”

Rose stared at the glass with weary eyes.

“Go on then. It’s not going to jump out of the glass and drown you.”

Her eyes snapped up to his, an expression mixed with equal parts suspicion and shock. A very curious expression to have towards water. For his part, the Doctor only raised his brows and gestured for her to get on with it. She looked back down at the glass and he watched her carefully as she decided the cup held no threat and sipped down the water.

“There. See? Still alive,” he smiled and snatched the cup from her fingers to set it in the sink. “Now, lets get you back to bed. You can explain to me tomorrow why aren’t trusting water these days.”

*************

Rose came back to the world naturally, without the hum of the TARDIS or the shrilling peals of her cell phone to help her along. Awareness took over slowly and allowed her to take in her surroundings without actually having to open her eyes. She was properly in bed, bundled on her side, in a cocoon of her sheets and duvet. There was no flashing lights behind her eyelids or screaming alarms or the sound of waterfalls. She shimmied deeper into her cocoon, turning her head down to bury her nose into the warmth of the pillow, and felt a dull ache on her temple. Opening her one uncovered eye, Rose scanned her room for signs of water damage.

Wait. It had been a dream.

Sitting up, the cocoon pooled down around her waist to reveal that she had gotten dressed again sometime in the night. Instead of her underwear, she was now clad in a white vest top and a favorite pair of striped pajama bottoms. Rose scooted back and adjusted her pillow so that she slouched comfortably against the wall of the TARDIS. The night came back to her in bits and pieces as her eyes wandered around her modest room, not really taking anything in.

Rose remembered drawing a bath. She remembered drifting asleep while she waited for the tub to fill. She remembered panic. She remembered the Doctor dragging her through the corridors.

Familiar heat blossomed across her cheeks and her lower stomach clenched pleasantly. She remembered the Doctor acting quite unusual. Rose grabbed her sheets and pulled them up to her chin, using them to build a comforting wall around her. It was now apparent that most of the night had been a dream, especially the bit where the TARDIS had started to flood. Why would she have ever believed that if she were not dreaming? The part that was truly exciting was how close the Doctor had been. Rose used her comforting sheet wall to hide as she tried desperately to relive the fantastic parts where the Doctor had uncharacteristically entered into her personal space. 

Rose was a young human female with a healthy sexual appetite. Without a doubt she fancied this older, mysterious alien male who had come by one day and swept her up into his space ship. It was logical to assume that from time to time, she would have a dream that involved interacting with him far more intimately than what was ever likely to happen in her waking life. The fact was, having sex dreams that starred the Doctor were some of her all time favorite dreams but none of those dreams had ever felt so real and vivid has the dream she had last night. The funniest part was that she had not actually had sex with the Doctor in this dream but the intimacy and lifelikeness of it made her feel like it was the dirtiest of the bunch.

After she had ended the dream with a push of a tiny button, she woke up with the Doctor hovering over her with a concerned look on his face. She hadn’t been in any state for coherent thought so she let him take care of her, taking her to the infirmary to check her head, and eventually bringing her back.

Rose didn’t remember much after the medicine. He gave her water and she had had a flashback, thinking that somehow the glass of water would expand out of the glass and start the flooding again. It was almost like she could hear that thunderous waterfall sound again. She wondered how long it might take to be around rushing water without having to be reminded about that dream. Luckily it wasn’t something she would probably face soon.

Eventually she had come to her senses and drank the water. 

The Doctor led her back to her room and she woke up here. She wondered if he had helped dress her. Had he turn her phone’s alarm off? Maybe she had remembered to do all these things herself. Rose couldn’t understand why her memory of the night was so foggy.

A rumble of her stomach told her it was time to get out of bed and start her day. She’d had enough reflection for the moment.

***********

Rose went through her regular routine for getting ready and set off towards the galley for a bite to eat. She was comforted by little details she noticed when walking through the corridors that she would have never even thought twice about two days ago. There were regular doors along the walls, and pathways, when directly passed by, seemed to lead into larger rooms. It wasn’t just a featureless maze that she had conjured up in her subconsciousness. And of course, there was no way that the TARDIS would ever flood. 

Before she even reached the galley, Rose was headed off by Jack. He informed her that she had slept in through most of their “day” and that he was heading to one of the little cafes out on the main street to grab some food. When she asked about the Doctor, he passed on the message that the Doctor was currently still working on TARDIS maintenance and that he was working quickly so Rose wouldn’t have to stay in one place too long. It was clear to her what the Doctor was referring to but Jack passed along the message without any indication that he understood the second meaning. They left the TARDIS without ever spotting the Doctor and found a cafe not too far away that sold a more alien fare than what Rose was used to, but still plenty satisfying.

They spent the afternoon hours seeing some of the sites they had missed from the day before but when Jack suggested they go clubbing again, Rose politely refused, still feeling drained from last night’s events. He walked her back to the TARDIS, made sure she got in okay, and waved as he went off for some night-time fun.

Rose was pleasantly cheerful from the day’s events, walking up the console room ramp with a bounce in her step. The rotor in the middle of the room pumped once in a lazy greeting from the TARDIS but beyond that, the console room was silent. Rose assumed the Doctor was still hiding in the depths of the ship and continued on to her room to put on something more comfortable. She noticed her head was starting to ache so she decided a bit of medicine and tea was in order.

She eventually ended up in a small media room, curled up against the arm of a soft couch, watching some light television. A recently finished cup of tea and the container of medicine she’d found earlier on her bedside table were right beside her on an end table. Rose was just starting to feel drowsy from the pain medication when a set of heavy booted steps came from behind her and around the side of the couch. The Doctor blocked her view of the screen mounted into the opposite wall. When she looked up, she met his assessing look. 

“It’s nice to see you up and visiting your companions,” she gave him a playful smile.

“And it looks like you just took your medicine.”

The Doctor unblocked her view of the screen and came to sit on the opposite end on the couch. He leaned forward and folded his hands, propping his elbows on his knees. His eyes were still on her but they were softer now.

“We won’t be too much longer. Should have things wrapped up while you two sleep.”

She nodded and turned so that she was facing him, legs pulled up to her chest. “Haven’t seen you too much in the last day or so. Have you even been eating?”

“Of course! You don’t think I just come down here and hang around for no reason.” The Doctor reached into his jacket and pulled out a ripe yellow banana. “Not to mention, I always have a snack around. Gotta keep this brain in top-top shape.”

Rose snorted as he peeled open the banana and took a bite.

“Now,” he started with his talking again, mouth full of banana. “Why don’t you appease my curiosity and tell me what happened last night?”

She dropped her head, bumping her chin against her knees.

“Was nothing really, I just… drank too much and fell asleep while I was filling the bath up.”

“Quite the mess you made in your bathroom too.”

She winced. “You didn’t clean it up, did you? It looked normal this morning.”

Her question stopped him from going in for the next bite. He let out a gruff bark of laughter. “Of course I didn’t. You might want to thank the TARDIS though. She could have just as easily made you clean up your own mess.” He took another bite, contented smile on his face.

She watched the Doctor and unconsciously compared him to the Doctor from her dream. This Doctor with sparkling blue eyes was enjoying this fruit, perfectly relaxed and blissfully unaware of the events that took place in her head the night before. In her dream, he was dark and silent and oddly erotic. It was day and night. He fit both parts absolutely perfectly. Two different sides to the same man. 

“What?”

Rose shook herself and blinked, focusing her gaze. “What?”

He raised a brow and swallowed what was in his mouth. He stuffed the banana peel back into the coat pocket he’d pulled the banana out from before. She noticed it and now it was her turn to raise a brow. 

He ignored her expression. 

“You were staring at me. Are you sure your head is alright? I can do another check in the infirmary.”

“No I’m fine!” she nearly cut him off. “My head is just feeling a little funny because of the medicine.”

He kept looking at her, studying her face. After a beat, the Doctor nodded and stood up. He walked somewhere behind the couch and fumbled around with something heavy before the thump of his boots stopped behind her. There was a rustle of cloth before a blanket descended upon and around her.

She looked up and met his eyes, staring down at her from behind the couch. 

“Get some rest and we’ll check on your head tomorrow.”

“Does that mean more adventures tomorrow?” A warm and excited grin spread across her face.”

The Doctor returned her smile, a familiar flicker of his eyes down to her mouth made her stomach do a full flip.

“Only if you’re well enough.”

“I’ll be ready then.”

He chuckled and left her field of vision. She listened as the sound of this boots disappeared.

Rose turned herself back to face the display on the wall. She tucked the warm, fuzzy throw around her body and snuggled into a more comfortable position with her head resting on the arm of the couch. The pain medication was hitting her hard and she wasn’t really processing that fact until she was actively fighting to keep her eyes open so that she could keep up with the show she was watching. Chemical induced fatigue eventually won out and Rose fell asleep.

*********

“Attention! Rose, please report to Jack’s quarters. I repeat, please promptly report to Jack’s quarters.”

The loud overhead announcement instantly brought Rose into consciousness. With effort, her eyes slid open to a semi darkened media room. The display was off, probably the TARDIS’s doing after Rose had fallen asleep, making the room completely silent.

She pushed herself up into a seated position and rubbed at her eyes, attempting to wake up enough to figure out what had just actually woken her up. Had someone just yelled at her? Looking around, there wasn’t any person or thing that she could immediately attach the voice to.   
There were no clocks on the TARDIS and she wore no watch. When she looked over to the side table, she remembered that she had not brought her phone with her to the media room before she’d settled in for the night. Without any idea of how long she had slept and considering how tired she still felt, Rose decided it was a perfectly good idea to go back to sleep. There were plenty of other media rooms in the TARDIS in case anyone wanted to watch something. 

With a large, gaping yawn, Rose laid back down against the armrest, tugging the blanket back around her into a favorable position.

“Rose Tyler!”

Rose jumped back up, sitting ramrod straight when she heard the Doctor’s voice blasting over the TARDIS intercom.

“You are to report to Jack’s quarters immediately! I know you can hear me!”

What the hell?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta-ed by Rishidiams

Rose jumped back up, sitting ramrod straight when she heard the Doctor’s voice blasting over the TARDIS intercom.

“You are to report to Jack’s quarters immediately! I know you can hear me!”

What the hell?

Rose found herself curiously devoid of the irritation she should have felt at being so rudely interrupted from her sleep. With his highly superior sense of time, there was absolutely no way the Doctor couldn’t know she would be asleep right now. Heck, he had even noticed her taking the pain medication that he probably knew would make her drowsy.

Mostly, she was just curious. This was the very first summons over the intercom that Rose had ever received in her time on the TARDIS. Granted, she hadn’t actually been traveling with the Doctor all that long, it made sense that there were things that she had yet to discover about his great ship.

Rose shoved the blanket from her lap and stood up, stretching languidly to remove the tightness in her muscles. Lingering sleepiness hung heavily over her mind as she moved out of the media room and into the long corridors of the TARDIS, making her way to Jack’s room.

The Doctor’s tone of voice had been insistent when he ordered her to meet him, but Rose felt no need to move quickly. A thick air hung all around her, making the walls seem to close in. In her field of vision, the walls were a familiar saturated color with blurriness invading the edges of her view. She moved down the hall, reaching out to glide her fingers over the textured coral walls of the TARDIS. They were grainy and rough and tickled her fingers as she moved forward. 

Making her way down the hall, Rose turned her head to peer up at a skylight that gave a lovely view of the full moon with not a cloud in sight. Passing the skylight, she looked to see that the ceiling had more skylights, evenly placed, as far as her eye could reach. Moving forward, Rose caught sight of different little portholes along the walls that gave spectacular views of the outside scenery, including picturesque country villages, a turbulent ocean shoreline, and glorious, snowy white, jagged mountains. Rose had no idea where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS in order for her to see all these breathtaking landscapes just outside the window, but she decided she'd like the Doctor to show her around after business was taken care of in Jack's room.

When she did reach the Captain's quarters, the door was shut. She couldn't hear any sounds coming from the other side of the door and wondered briefly if she should try to get ahold of the Doctor to ask permission before entering. This was Jack’s personal room after all.   
The panel next to the door was simple and Rose couldn't find a button, or a speaker for that matter, that would let her reach an intercom system. Maybe she could knock? What if she woke up Jack? What if she wasn't even supposed to go into Jack's room, just meet the Doctor outside the door?

As if sensing Rose’s indecision, the door automatically opened, putting Rose face to face with the Time Lord, dressed in what she assumed was the traditional garb of his people. The Doctor stood as regally as a king in bright blue robes with little clocks draped over the folds, like they were melted over the fabric. It reminded her of a painting she once saw in one of her schoolbooks of clocks melted over a landscape in a similar fashion. Around his neck was thick gold chain with a plain office wall clock attached at the end, which covered a sizable chunk of his lower chest. A yellow coif covered his head snugly with thin strips of cloth that framed the sides of his face, allowing his large ears to poke out the sides.

Her eyes took all of this in and Rose was so proud of herself for not even cracking a smile. The distant amusement dulled in the back of her mind demanded she drop to the floor and clutch her sides laughing, but if she had learned anything while traveling with the Doctor, it was to keep one's opinions about other people's cultures to one's self.

"Come on then."

The Doctor turned on his heel and went to stand beside Jack's empty bed. It was a minimalist, dark wood box stand with a full mattress, pushed against the corner of the room. The matching bedside stand and dresser were the only other pieces of furniture and together they filled the small room. There was a door on the adjacent wall to her right.

At a loss on why she had been called, Rose obediently followed the Doctor into the room. Questions churned in the back of her mind, just out of her grasp. Without anything to say, she looked to the Doctor with curiosity written across her face.

Seeing that the had her full attention, the Doctor began his speech. Again he stood with a lordly air, his face turned up just a fraction to peer down his large nose at her, looking far more alien than she had ever seen him before.

"I guess you're curious as to why I've sent for you."

She nodded, sensing the seriousness and standing straight in front of him. There was the feeling that she was going to be charged with a mission of some sort.

The Doctor eyed her like she should have graced him with a vocal answer and added a Your Majesty at the end, but seemed to let it go a second later, and began to pace leisurely before her, hands clasped behind his back.

"You see, my people had a long and rich history. Each of us lived for centuries, some multiple millennia. We gained the ability to sense, even harness time. All the lesser species either looked up to us..." he paused in his speech for effect, "or feared us."

At that last part, the Doctor rolled his eyes over to watch for her reaction. She played along and gave him her best look of solemn understanding though she was still just mostly confused over where this was going.

"Unfortunately terrible things have happened and now I am the last of my species." The Doctor looked regretful. "It is now my duty to uphold the traditions that made my culture so vibrant, that kept it strong."

At this, he stopped his pacing and moved to stand directly in front of Rose. His eyes were dark with the weight of the cosmos swirling within them but somewhere deeper, there was a note of pleading. So caught up in his gaze, she didn't notice his hands coming up to her shoulders until they were firmly locked in his grip. His hands were heavy and cool, even though her cotton t-shirt.

"I'll help however I can Doctor. What can I do?"

That familiar Doctor grin cut through his solemn expression and Rose felt a little more at ease. The Doctor gently clapped her shoulders and turned away. She watched as he moved to Jack's bed and began peeling down the covers.

"One of the oldest traditions of my people, ancient you might say," he was talking with his back turned away but it was loud enough that Rose could hear every word. "is the tradition of warming your guest’s bed. Taking care of the people who have let down their guard enough to sleep under your roof, when they’re the most vulnerable, is a very serious thing."

Rose took this in and nodded, even though he couldn't see it. This all made perfect sense. The TARDIS was the Doctor’s home. She could see where this might be going. The Doctor turned around once again, and perched himself on the end of the bed.

"I know you're probably wondering why I haven't warmed your bed?"

Although Rose couldn't find it in herself to summon up any indignation, she was still curious. The Doctor's face turned a little pained.

"A human's temperature for comfort is too warm for me to do it properly. Every night you fall asleep in a cold bed is like a slap in the face of my people."

"You mean you have to do it yourself? Why not use an electric blanket?"

The Doctor scoffed. "How could I use an electric blanket? So impersonal. My guests wouldn’t even smell me on their sheets! They would know I hadn't taken the time." He shook his head. "No, no. I cannot use an electric blanket."

Rose nodded, unsure how she should react the remark about not being able to smell the Doctor on the sheets. "So you want... me to warm Jack's bed?"

The grin returned to his face and he nodded. "That's exactly what I want."

"That shouldn't be too hard. How long do you want me to," she waved her hand in the direction of the bed. "Stay in there?"

“No more than a couple of minutes. We’ll be done before even returns.”

“How do you know when he’s coming back?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

This was the Doctor’s tradition. He’d done so much for her, taking her around the universe and showing her things she never thought could even be real. This wasn’t such a big price to pay. Hopefully Jack wouldn’t smell her on his sheets though. That would only be the start of a long, awkward conversation she didn’t really want to have with the other human.

Rose moved towards the bed, ready to climb in and definitely hoping not to fall asleep before the she was stopped by the Doctor’s hand upon her arm.

“You can’t go in like that! You’ll have to take off most of your clothing.”

She blinked and felt the blood drain from her face.

“What?”

“It’s tradition, and more practical.”

The Doctor stood from his perch on the bed and backed her up enough so he was standing in front of her again. Slowly and keeping his eyes firmly on hers as long as possible, the Doctor circled around her until he was standing right behind. She felt the swish of his robes against of the back of her calves.

“Now Rose,” his voice took on the same tone as if he were explaining basic arithmetic to her. “How are you going to do any bed warming if your clothing soaks up all the heat?”

He lightly settled his hands upon her waist, just above the hem of her shirt.

“Really, if you were doing it properly, you’d be naked.”

She heard him chuckle when she reacted to his statement with as gasp. The Doctor’s hands moved lower and tugged at the hem of her shirt. Automatically she raised her arms and he slid it right up and off of her. This left her completely nude from her waist up. Deep down in her mind, she felt alarms going off at the Doctor’s behavior. He was disrobing her and she just could not outwardly care.

He continued, the heat of his breath sending tingles across the curve of her ear. “I won’t make you do that though. I know how embarrassing nudity can be for you and those 21st century Earth hang-ups of yours.”

The hands returned, teasing her with little dips inside the waistband of her pajama bottoms.

“I am nude though,” she mumbled. Her insides were turning to jelly.

“Hardly,” he breathed.

The Doctor’s thumbs hooked under waist of her pajamas and he pulled them down, leaving Rose hardly nude in just her panties. 

A warmth ran down her spine. She stepped forward towards the bed and out of her pants. The Doctor’s hands were at her waist again, gently guiding her the few steps it would take to make it to Jack’s bed.

He stopped her just short though and climbed in first, facing the wall with his back to her, and settled in. It was kind of him to avoid facing her so that she at least was able to hang on to her last bit of modesty. A deeper part of her wondered if he would appreciate what he saw, even if he looked. 

Rose climbed in behind him and grabbed the sheets to pull over the top of both of them when she settled. She made sure to put a polite amount of space between them, despite the fact he had not moments ago, undressed her. The sheets were cool from air exposure and disuse, which made her pull her arms and knees tight against her chest. Still though, she couldn’t help but release a full body shiver, trying to acclimate to the cold sheets against her bare flesh.

Though they were not touching, he must have felt her shiver because he was suddenly flipped around and pulled her right up to his chest. It was so swift, she hadn’t even realized he’d moved until she was already wrapped in his embrace. Rose felt her face pressed flush against his front, just above the chain to his large clock. The clock itself made her yelp when it fell against her skin a moment later.

The Doctor chuckled and pulled away just long enough to remove the clock before he pulled her back against his chest. It didn’t take her long to settle in and get lost in the double-time thump of his odd alien heart.

They laid there for a for a bit in the same position, not saying anything. There was so much cloth between them from his robes that it was easy to imagine they were just in the middle of a longest platonic hug contest. The lingering sleepiness that had been forced to hover in the far corners of her brain returned to her in full force as she laid there in a warm cocoon of Doctor.

Rose felt her world begin to tilt and then whirl, her eyes falling shut as she raced towards unconsciousness when her body jerked awake again. She was lying on her back now, the Doctor pressed against her side, his breath was hot against her shoulder. Further assessment told her that one of his legs was tangled with her own and his palm was dangerously close to the swell of her breast. The sheets had worked themselves lower, exposing her shoulders and chest to the coolness of the room. 

Heat pooled low in her belly. Trying to remember back, Rose couldn’t figure out when they had moved into this position. Her eyes felt heavy, like they were fighting to go back to sleep but Rose desperately wanted to savor this. She stared at the ceiling, hoping that the her lids would fall back open, helped along by gravity. If she didn’t move, then maybe he wouldn’t wake up. Maybe she could time their hug and submit it to the Guinness Book of World Records. No, that would put her back to sleep. There was a shift against her hip, just a minor push. 

Was he asleep? 

Very, very slowly, not wanting to wake him if he had been sleeping, Rose turned her head, hoping to rotate it just enough to make eye contact in case he was awake. He couldn’t possibly be awake and willingly in such a position. 

His palm pulled, and there it was, his hand was touching her breast. It wasn’t much, just a press of skin to skin, but he might as well have cupped her breast at that point.

Something again nudged her hip.

Her breath hitched and she turned her head fully, coming face to face was the darkest set of blue eyes she had ever seen in her life.

Rose had never seen anyone look at her with so much want. She looked at his lips, and in her peripheral, saw that he did the same. Inching forward, she moistened her lips in preparation for what she thought would come to be one of the greatest moments of her life. Centimeter for centimeter, he matched her movements. It was clear he wanted this too. The edges of her vision darkened, and she only saw his face. 

This was it. They were so close. 

The heat of his breath across her lips. His hand pulled further across her bosom, a definite press.

She rolled the tiniest bit closer, as close as the already non-existent space between them would allow. 

“Doctor…”

His lips were so close now that it felt like electricity was passing back and forth. 

Rose’s vision went black.

*************

Her whole body convulsed momentarily, ripping her back to consciousness. Rose’s eyes slammed open and she propped herself up, her breath coming out in ragged pants. When her breathing was under control, Rose was surprised to discover that she was back in her room and that she was still naked, besides her panties.

Grabbing her pillow, she folded and adjusted it so she could sit comfortably against the wall, pillow supporting her lower back. What happened last night?

Déjà vu struck her in the gut as she sat there in bed and went over the night’s events. The replay in her mind happened several times and still there was no telling whether last night was real or not. It all seemed 100% real, but some of the details screamed at her to reconsider.  
The intercom announcement had awoken her from her sleep. She remembered beautiful vistas and the feel of the TARDIS’s walls against her fingertips. The Doctor’s outfit was awfully crazy, but she didn’t know anything about his people which also meant there was no telling what his traditions actually were either. When he explained them to her, they had all seemed quite logical but now when trying to pull up the details in her mind, she was unsure what exactly he had told her.

This brought the Doctor’s very forward actions to mind. When he had undressed her, she felt like he had been performing a ritual on her, but he acted like it was just the most natural thing and it wasn't creepy. He helped her into the bed after that. How long did they lay together just in each other’s arms? It was like a fantasy come true, though she hadn’t fantasized about herself being almost naked while he wore huge stuffy robes. Did he tell her that he wanted to break some kind of hug record? That certainly didn’t sound like the man she knew but why would it even be in her head if he hadn’t said something?

Then there was the hazier part, if any of it could be hazier. This was the part she thought she should remember over all the other parts except it was like trying to see the bottom of a pond by looking straight down through the water. Everything felt distorted and unreal. She remembered him holding her in a way that the Doctor never had in the past. She remembered his eyes, a set of blue eyes that were nearly black with want. Her body reacted to the memory of those eyes.

All of this had happened in Jack’s room… in Jack’s bed. The heat of arousal quickly became the heat of shame. They were supposed to be recognizing the Doctor’s traditions and they had kissed in Jack’s bed. But had they kissed? That was a part she could not recall.

Rose picked up the blankets from around her waist and slid back down into bed, wrapping herself in their protective cover. She was torn between cherishing such a great memory and feeling terrible for her conduct in someone else’s personal bed.

It was then that she heard a soft knock on her door.

“Come in!”

The door slid open and the soft whisper of steps entered the room.

Expecting the semi-usual wake up call from the Doctor for when she slept in too late, Rose stuck her head up from her cocoon to apologize and was shocked to see Jack standing at the end of her bed with a funny look on his face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beta: Rishidiams

There he was. The universe had read her mind and sent the very man she was more wary of seeing at the moment than the Doctor.

Jack expression was one she was unused to seeing on his face, and therefore, was unable to properly identify. Being a reasonably bright person, Rose had to assume that he was at least aware of last night's activities but whether he knew the full story or had just walked in by accident, there was no telling.

That curious expression on his didn't last a second after she had laid eyes on it though. From the initial lack of knocking, Rose suspected Jack had crept into her room as though he expected her to still be asleep. If he had known she was awake, more than likely he would have come in wearing the mask of friendliness without her being any the wiser.

Jack grabbed the chair stationed in front of her vanity and pulled it to her bedside, settling comfortably upon it, legs crossed casually before him. 

"Hey there, early riser. Thought I'd make sure you didn't nap too long."

Rose let the jibe at her tendency to oversleep pass as she adjusted herself back into position up against the wall at the top of her bed again, taking extra special care of making sure the duvet cocoon moved up with her. Drawing attention to the fact that she was still nearly naked was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

Jack seemed to be more interested in her face though. That same friendliness was still in place but he didn't hide the fact that he was studying her. It made her feel like she was on trial and he hadn’t even asked a single question. 

When the scrutiny got to be too much, Rose felt it best to just come clean. Maybe he was waiting for her to confess first. He deserved that much. Her lips had barely just parted when he finally spoke again.

"So, I was talking to the Doctor earlier. He said we'll be moving along after he stocks up on some supplies and he wanted me to come check up on you at some point if you weren’t up."

She laughed softly, "He wants to get out of here pretty badly, doesn't he?"

Jack shrugged. "Perhaps. I think he’ll want to make sure you’re fit for travel first though."

"It's just a bump." Rose reached up to brush her fingers against the ever present dull ache on her skull. She wasn't sure if the lack of real pain was from the medication or if the bump was just healing well.

"You're right, which means we'll probably be leaving as soon as the Doctor finishes your check up. There is a little problem with the fact that half the awake cycle is already finished."

Rose's eyebrows shot up with surprise. Without thinking, she loosened the cocoon and shot her arm out to adjust and read the battery operated clock at on her nightstand, unwittingly revealing her bare shoulder. If she calculated right from the last time she'd checked the hour the day before, she had to have been sleeping for no less than 16 hours. That can't have all been the medication. Did she account for the time she had spent with the Doctor? Her brain felt like a mess.

Jack's eyes fell down to her bared shoulder, and a knowing grin spread across his features. 

"So how about we talk about your night? I admit that I'm a little hurt that you didn't want to come out with me again, but I suppose I can let it go on account of your injury."

Heat immediately spread across her face. Oh god, he knew. Rose quickly pulled her arm back into the protective surrounding of the duvet. Her face was the very picture of shameful remorse.

"Look, Jack. About last night. I'm so sorry about what happened. I..." she bit her lip, trying to come up with a good way to explain without going into too much detail. Rose didn't know how much she should tell Jack about what the Doctor had shared with her the night before. The Doctor kept his past quite close to his breast.

For his part, Jack looked patient and Rose wanted to hug him in thanks, but she kept still.

"The Doctor wanted to do something special for us. For you. And I was helping him out. I must have dozed off though. Anyway, I may have uh, kissed the Doctor in your bed."

Rose hung her head, not wanting to meet Jack's eyes.

There was silence. Each passing second felt like a weight being placed onto her shoulders. Time slowed to a crawl and Rose could swear Jack's silence was a sure sign of disappointment. She felt terrible. A large hand found her blanket covered shoulder and Rose looked up, steeling herself for any negative reaction.

Jack's face held none of the expressions that Rose was afraid she would find. A mix of curiosity, amusement, and that third look she'd been unable to place earlier. When he did reply, it was in a quiet voice.

"What do you mean by the Doctor wanting to do something special for us?"

Should she tell him? After what had happened, this was probably another thing that Jack deserved to know. As little as possible though. Rose still heard a little voice inside telling her she should keep the Doctor's secrets just that, secret.

"He said... his people had a tradition for guests. He said he needed my help because of the differences in our species. His and ours, I mean."

Rose paused, waiting for a reaction. Jack's face didn't shift an inch. He nodded, encouraging her to continue.

"Anyway, we were in your bed...for the tradition? Ritual? And I kinda dozed off." Rose dropped her eyes, suddenly becoming very interested in the carpet. "I woke up again and... well we k-kissed. It wasn't supposed to be about that. But..."

She looked up to meet his eyes, pleading for him to understand.

"It just... kinda happened, us being so close like that. And I reckon he was just keeping me warm at first but then things... progressed."

Jack’s answering laugh was so unexpectedly boisterous, Rose was momentarily stunned. Of the likely reactions she’d predicted in this scenario, all out laughter didn’t even make the list. Her brows knitted together in a frown when he had failed to pull himself together after the first few guffaws.

“What’s so funny?”

Her seriousness seemed to break through to him.

“I’m no expert on the Doctor’s history, but I’d say it sounds like the Doctor has a weird kink about being in other people’s beds and mine just happened to be convenient. I mean,” he held his hand up and gave an exaggerated shrug, to emphasize his point, “if you have someone like me on board, things like that aren’t such a big deal to accomplish. Right?”

Rose’s jaw felt like it dropped all the way to the floor.

“You can’t be serious.”

Jack sighed. “You’re right, I’m not. None of what you told me sounds like anything the Doctor would do. Are you sure this wasn’t just a dream?”

She bit her lip and didn’t reply right away. Jack was right. All of last night was just too out of character for the Doctor, but there was no getting her mind around the fact that it had all been so real. So maybe there was another thing that was happening there. Maybe the Doctor was infected with something or perhaps the TARDIS zapped him and fried his brain a little bit during maintenance. 

“It wasn’t a dream because I fell asleep on the couch in one of the media rooms. Jack, I think something’s wrong with the Doctor.”

Rose didn’t want to discuss her little bout of sleep walking. She didn’t have a history of it so most likely it was a one-time deal. 

Jack gave her a long look before he replied, “Are you sure?”

“Sure about what? About the Doctor being a bit funny?”

“No, about it all not having been a dream.”

Rose wanted to tell him no but deeper still, she wanted it to be real. With most of the guilt about having done something inappropriate in Jack’s bed assuaged, her hope now was that she really had shared a kiss with one of the most incredible people she had ever met. Of course there was now the damper of the Doctor not having been in his right mind when this happened. Rose cursed the drugs she’d taken that made it so hard to remember. Oh how desperately she wanted to remember. 

After reaching an internal decision on the night before, Rose sat a little straighter, determination set deep into her features.

“I’m absolutely sure it wasn’t a dream.”

Jack smiled at her and stood up from the chair to put it back where he’d found it. “Well,” he started as he moved, “let’s at least get you something to eat. I’m not sure exactly when the Doctor will be back but it shouldn’t be too much longer.”

When he had finished, Jack moved to her bedroom door. 

“What about the Doctor?”

“Meet me in the galley and we can discuss some ideas.” Jack tossed her one of his naturally charismatic smiles before he left her room.

Rose waited a beat before she popped up from the bed, ready to finish the rest of her day with a bang, and a wave of dizziness momentary swept over her. It didn’t linger, but in its wake, a soft pounding in her temple called attention to the fact that she probably should take it easy. As she walked to her en suite to start getting ready, she reminded herself not to forget to stop by the media room to pick up the pain medication for what she hoped would be her last dose after her late breakfast.

**************

When Jack left Rose’s room, he slid his hands into his pockets and let the smile melt from his face. Knowing that it typically took Rose a while to get ready, Jack took his time walking to the galley. He’d prepare something for her to eat while he waited.

Jack was troubled by the interaction he’d just had with Rose because everything she had told him only minorly matched up with what he remembered waking up to. Only the last part to be exact, and even that didn’t completely match.

Before returning to the TARDIS the night before, Jack had had a blast. Early in the night he’d met a real charmer, much like himself, and the two of them hit it off instantly. They had met at the first bar he’d went to for the night, bonded over some shots, and ended up following each other around to different hotspots over the course of the evening, trying to one-up each other’s knowledge of where the best places for a good time were. And the night out wouldn’t have been complete without the makeout sessions and alleyway groping sprinkled in and around the venues they traveled to.

When ways were finally parted, he made it back to the TARDIS in one piece and went straight to his room. Generally by human standards, Jack didn’t need much sleep, even after a night of debauchery, but tonight he was feeling somewhat exhausted by all the leisure. When he had gone out with Rose before, he had refrained from really letting loose since she wasn’t very familiar with the way things were in this time period. The Doctor was trusting him to keep her safe and he did a fairly good job of it, barring the interaction with that X’alogian? X’ologian? The Klingon.

Jack had believed up until now that he had gotten to Rose before the Klingon had done anything shady to her or her drink, but now he wasn’t so sure.

As far as he could recall, he walked straight to the bathroom for a piss before stumbling his way into bed, only taking the time to fiddle with and remove his boots before passing out, and that’s where both his and Rose’s version of events kinda sorta overlapped. Vaguely.

He woke up again sometime in the night, half drunk and nearly completely asleep, to find he’d removed his jacket at some point and was curled around what felt to be a curvy female. His palm was almost touching her boob. Obviously he hadn’t thought he’d gone back to the TARDIS for the night, hence the lady under his arm that he was currently almost fondling. He couldn’t feel her shoulder but from their positions he could feel the heat of his alcohol soured breath being reflected back to him by something solid. 

When he did finally open his eyes, it was too dark for him to properly identify the female next to him. Her skin was light and soft, so probably human. Her hair was blonde. Had he been with any blondes tonight? He guessed she was naked from his position. Hmm… had they had sex? Couldn’t hurt to go again to tide him over to until the TARDIS’s next pit stop. 

Ready to get this going, Jack gave her hips a gentle thrust from his own. Her eyes slowly drew themselves open and Jack thought she looked familiar, a bit like Rose. Ugh, had he banged a Rose look alike? Oh well, he’d just make sure not look too hard this time, in case he remembered in the morning. Hopefully he’d be back in the TARDIS before morning.

The Rose look alike turned to look at him and that’s when he went for it.

Lips nearly touching lips, Jack thrust again in anticipation.

And then a whispered, “Doctor.”

The drunken haze still hung over him just as it did before, but Time Agency training kicked his brain into gear and Jack pulled away, blinking his eyes a couple of times to adjust to the lack of light, really seeing what was going on for the first time. 

The blonde looked so much like Rose because she was Rose.

Her eyes were shut again and a light snore escaped her lips. 

The shock of finding Rose in his bed tamped down on his arousal, making it easy to pull away and climb out of the bed, mindful not to jostle her awake. The decision to get her out of his bed and into hers as quickly and carefully as possible was suddenly top priority and there was no deliberation or any actual decision making that took place on that matter. That priority was only seconded by the fact that he must not be caught by the Doctor. Even without Rose laying there naked about to kiss him, whispering the Doctor’s name, it was so obvious how they felt about each other. The last thing he needed was to be the scandalous third body to their already complicated dance. He didn’t want to be the excuse either of them used for why it just wasn’t the right time to finally get together or some other bullshit rationalization.

It may have been a smart idea to dress Rose before transporting her back to her own room, but the uneasy feeling in his gut, and the fact that she had at least kept her panties on, pushed Jack to finish the whole affair as soon as possible. When he finally had her tucked soundly into bed, he deposited her clothes unceremoniously in a heap on her floor, making it look like she had simply undressed and climbed into bed immediately after. The general lack of tidiness in her room tipped him off to the fact that it might be a common practice of hers.

After sorting her out, Jack went back to his room and took the time to properly prepare himself for bed. He slept through the night, woke up around his usual time and went about his business as usual. He had breakfast with the Doctor, discussed possible future plans, though it was more that he suggested places to go and the Doctor simply absorbed. When the time for Rose to make an appearance in the galley came and went, the Doctor explained that her body was probably just throwing all its energy into healing the head wound. Jack was instructed to check up on her if she slept in too long, which he eventually ended up doing.

Jack made it to the galley and got started preparing some food and tea for Rose. 

It went without saying that he needed to inform the Doctor of the general course of events from the night before, but there was no way he was going to admit to finding Rose nearly naked in his bed. And of course, if he didn’t admit to the bed part, then he wouldn’t have to say anything about the almost having sex part. That would’ve been an absolute disaster.

He would have to tell the Doctor about her run-in with the brown alien whose species he could never get right. What would he say though? Sorry he was dancing and somehow an alien pulled a fast one on Rose and spiked her drink with something? As far as he knew, she’d been at the bar the whole time, and the “never leave your drink unattended” rule was most definitely common during the 21st century. The alien would have had to have been extremely talented to get anything into her drink if she was paying attention.

It was possible he could have injected her with something via touch. The species of alien she’d been talking to was one he only knew vaguely by name. 

Then there was the fact that her dream was so vivid, Rose had believed it had really happened. In his entire life, Jack had never experienced something like that, not that his experiences were the standard on which to compare everyone else’s. It just didn’t feel right. Not to mention, if she fell asleep in the media room, then she was sleepwalking as well. Sleepwalking wasn’t a condition that Rose suffered from as far as he knew. No, he hadn’t been traveling with the two them for that long, but he was sure he would have heard something about it by now if it were a problem.

Piece by piece, everything seemed more like coincidence than anything, but together there might be cause for some real concern.

Rose was due for another check up with the Doctor so hopefully if Jack was able to slip that information to the Time Lord first, then perhaps the genius could glean something from it, if there was anything to glean. 

The galley door slid open just as Jack finished putting together a plate of eggs, toast, and fruit. He put the plate on the table in front of Rose’s usual seat and handed her some utensils after she was seated.

“Tea’s almost done steeping.” 

Rose murmured her thanks and took a bite of toast.

“I probably should have requested coffee.”

Jack leaned up against the counter and released an exaggerated gasp.

“What? Coffee over tea?”

“I’m actually really tired still.” Rose smiled sheepishly.

Looking at her a little closer, he definitely noticed distinctive fatigue on her face. When she had entered the galley, he had only glanced at her but assumed it was lingering lethargy from too much sleep.

“Are you feeling okay?”

A nod was the only answer she gave as she continued to eat. 

Jack turned around and prepared her tea how she liked it. He came back to the table and placed the mug by her plate, taking a seat directly across from her. At this point, her plate only looked a little less full than how she first received it, and Jack wondered if she was really eating at all. If she hadn’t been lost in her own world, she probably would have called him out for watching her. As it stood, it didn’t seem like she was really paying attention.

“So,” Jack started, then paused to make he had her attention. A moment passed before she looked up, so he began again. “I’m sure you know it would be silly to just attack the Doctor about him acting funny, wouldn’t you agree?”

Rose nodded again in place of an answer. He watched her pull a small container from her pocket, open it up, and slip something into her mouth.

“What was that?”

She looked up as if he startled her. Her face relaxed as she came to a realization and replied, “Just some pain medication. You know.” She pointed at the bump on her head. It was slightly discolored now and didn’t look as prominent as he’d seen it the day before.

He continued. “So why don’t we just hang back and watch him for a day or two, but let me know if he has you do anything a little... off, ok?”

Rose snickered, evidently finding something he said amusing.

“What? That’s a good plan,” Jack proclaimed indignantly.

She shook her head, “It’s nothing. You just sounded like the Doctor a bit I guess.”

“Does that mean you find me more attractive?” Jack emphasized the more, grinned, and leaned forward to rest his chin on his palm.

Rose picked up her mug and tittered as she sipped at her tea.

“When you grow a second heart and fly me across time and space, we’ll talk.”

Jack pouted. “Such high standards for an Earth girl.”

Just then the galley door slid open to reveal the subject of their discussion. The Doctor strode over to the table, and plopped down in the seat next to Rose.

“Supplies stocked up! The TARDIS is taken care of, and when Rose is done eating, she’ll be taken care of, too!” 

“Oh Doctor, don’t tease.” Jack mock admonished.

The Doctor rolled his eyes while Rose hid by choosing that moment to sip from her mug. Unfortunately it wasn’t wide enough to hide her pink cheeks.

“Rose here just woke up. After breakfast, she’ll be ready to receive that clean bill of health.”

“Well then, what are we waiting for? She looks done to me.”

Jack frowned when she pushed away her barely-touched plate.

“C’mon Rose. Is that really all you’re going to eat?”

Rose set her half empty mug down and pushed the plate further away to prop her chin up on her palm. Her eyes began to droop.

“Really Jack. I’m sure it’s just the medicine. I probably won’t need it after tomorrow so I’ll have my old appetite back.”

Rose closed her eyes and leaned further forward, placing her other elbow on the dining table to support her. 

The arch of the Doctor’s brow had confirmed Jack’s suspicion that lack of appetite was not one of the common side effects for the medication he’d given her. Fatigue had to be though. Rose looked like she was prepared for a doze at the breakfast table, despite having slept in so long.

“Come on Rose.” The Doctor stood up abruptly. The command in his voice jerked her back to consciousness and she seemed momentarily disoriented before she stood up sluggishly to join him. “I think it’s time for us to finally get to that check up.”

Jack stood up as well and started cleaning up Rose’s plate and mug. Both the Doctor and Rose began to make their way to the galley door. The Doctor opened the door and stepped aside, guiding Rose forward first.

“Hey, Doc, a word?”

“I’ll meet you in the infirmary,” he murmured to Rose who at this point, was a zombie on her feet. Not even looking capable of speech, she shuffled off and the galley door automatically closed behind her.

The Doctor moved back from the door and fixed Jack with an inquiring gaze.

“We need to talk about Rose’s new sleepwalking habit.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta: Rishidiams

The Doctor moved back from the door and fixed Jack with an inquiring stare.

"We need to talk about Rose's new sleepwalking habit."

That most certainly got the Doctor's attention. Jack watched the Doctor turn fully towards him, eyes shifting from merely inquiring to burning with curiosity. 

"What happened?" The softness of his voice was betrayed by his tense body language.

"It might not be anything to worry about, but last night Rose wandered into my room. Actually sleepwalked."

The Doctor shrugged, "Nothing wrong with that. Not terribly uncommon for you humans."

"Right, you're right," Jack nodded back in agreement, "but there are two more things."

The Doctor brought his hand up in a gesture for Jack to get on with it. 

"Well I'm sure you noticed that she was nearly falling asleep in the chair just now. That's one thing, considering she slept so long. The second thing is Rose might have been somehow drugged when we went out the other night."

A real fire lit behind the Doctor's eyes and his lips formed a thin line. He stood silent, waiting for Jack to continue with some kind of explanation. Making sure to tread lightly, Jack hurried along with his story, hoping to ease the Doctor past any particularly dangerous thoughts that might end up being hazardous to his health.

"I was watching her the entire night. She took a break from dancing at the last club and ordered a drink at the bar. I saw her sitting there for a bit and then there was a guy," Jack thought he noticed the Doctor's eyes darkening subtly. "He was sitting next to her and I had a bad feeling so I went over, grabbed her, and we left the club. I didn't actually see anything odd happen, but I just can't shake the feeling that he might be the cause."

The Doctor broke eye contact and folded his arms across his chest. He looked to be thinking over the information that he'd just heard. Thinking it best to give the Doctor some time, Jack continued cleaning up the food he'd just made for Rose. 

"Let’s say he did put something in her drink," though he was faced away, Jack nodded to show he was listening. "Most drugs used by those sorts are meant to physically incapacitate the victim."

"Well yeah," Jack replied over his shoulder, "Rose made it home perfectly fine though. Granted she was a bit tired and she'd been drinking, she was up for a bit and coherent before she ever went to bed. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary that night except for that spill she took."

Jack dried his hands and turned around to lean up against the counter. 

"She was probably just being clumsy."

"So she didn't tell you she was sleepwalking then?"

"Oh."

Two nights in a row. That was unusual.

"I doubt I would have known anything was up if she hadn't hit her head. I don't think the TARDIS understands enough about humans to suss out the difference between sleepwalking and wandering, but she can tell when someone is injured. She alerted me to what happened and that's when I found her. I gave her that pain medication for her head after I did an exam and didn't find a concussion."

Now it was time for Jack to think. Could sleepwalking be connected to the alien? Could it have been something that she ate? Everywhere they went catered to humans so it was unlikely she would have developed anything from the food she ate. He did consider the fact that she was a centuries old version of human, but things really wouldn't have changed all that much. As a Time Agent, Jack traveled all over time and had never developed any uncharacteristic sleeping habits from simply eating the wrong thing.

Of course, there was a ton of information that neither he, nor the Doctor had. Jack had not ingested everything that Rose had that night. The Doctor hadn't come with them which meant they didn't have his vigilant watchfulness, or his even his presence. No alien would have so much as looked at Rose with him hanging around.

Tests. They'd have to do tests.

"I'll do some tests. Another neural scan for sure."

Jack blinked. Could Time Lords read people's minds from across the room? Chuckling to himself, Jack instead assumed it was more likely that they just arrived to the same conclusion.

 

***********

 

Infirmary. The Doctor wanted her to meet up with him at the infirmary. She would have liked to have been carried. Like when the TARDIS flooded that one time. 

Rose looked down at her feet and saw small, green hand weights tied around her ankles. At this rate, the Doctor would beat her to the infirmary and then he'd grouse about her not being on time. Why should she care if she wasn't being timely though? It was her time that she was wasting. He had as much as he needed. On second thought, maybe she should hurry.

She was about to bend down and remove the weights when she spotted that they were already gone. Rose stopped and brought her right knee up parallel to the ground. Her tired muscles complained when she shook her ankle but she was satisfied to find that the weights truly were gone. She didn't want to explain why she had weights attached to her ankles anyway.

Putting her leg back down, Rose moved forward. 

The TARDIS's walls took on their familiar saturated look and Rose brought her fingers up to feel that familiar rough texture: lightly ticklish on the pads.

She blinked her eyes a couple of times, as though clearing away a build up of film. When she focused her vision, the walls were a washed coral again. Rose moved her fingers a second time along the wall and found it to be more smooth and rounded. A sense of loss filled her. 

Rose pulled her hand back and looked around to see that the TARDIS corridors looked perfectly normal.

The Doctor would be waiting.

With her sense of purpose found again, Rose moved on.

 

**********

The Doctor and Jack were walking side by side towards the infirmary bouncing ideas off of each other. It was decided that Rose had indeed been drugged as it was unlikely from the circumstances that anything else would have happened.

"He was like a snake, literally and figuratively. A big brown snake with bones all over. Actually not a terrible looking species. I wouldn't have turned him down."

The Time Lord raised a brow curiously, "What would you turn down?"

"Fair point. Still, that guy inspired no trust in me whatsoever, and I’d like to think I’m a pretty trusting guy."

The Doctor would have raised his brow again if it hadn't already been up. Instead he eyed Jack in exasperation.

"Okay, okay. Within reason... for some-- a couple of people. A handful." He sighed. "You can stop looking at me like that."

A smirk covered the Doctor's features and he turned back ahead. They were almost there. His fingers twitched as he anticipated and planned the tests he'd perform on Rose. A mystery he was dying to solve, because, deeper down past the part of his brain that wanted to deny his attraction to his young companion, the Doctor wanted Rose to be safe. In the span of his life, she was but a blink of an eye, but selfishly he desired to keep her as long as she continued to be enamored by his lifestyle, for as long as she wanted to be by him. One day she would really understand who he was and what he was capable of and that's when he'd have to let her go. But as long as she would stay with him, he would take care of her. She deserved no less. He paid little attention to the pessimistic part of his mind that told him this could very well quickly spiral out of control if he didn't find out what was going on soon. 

The two of them had almost made it to the infirmary and the Doctor turned his thoughts to his other companion. A discreet glance at the other man showed that his face was set with determination. He also wanted to figure out what was wrong with Rose and that made the Doctor's respect grow for the former con-man. 

As soon as he’d stepped on board, Jack had been both a pain in his arse and pleasant middle man between him and Rose. The Doctor didn’t mind the flirting too much until it went overboard, which it sometimes did, but when the charm was turned down, he great to talk to. Since he was an experienced time traveler himself, Jack was familiar with the basic rules of time travel that he frequently had to help his other companions with. Jack was also quite tech savvy which meant when the Doctor needed to chat about what was happening with his ship, he wasn’t just met with a blank stare and a nod. Sweet Rose was so brilliant, but she didn’t know the first thing about spaceship technology or anything above the very basic laws of physics. And although he never felt dissatisfied about not being able to talk to her about things of that nature, it felt good on occasion have someone to bounce ideas off of, or not have to translate himself into layperson speak. And when he was having a particularly rough day, or like the past couple of days having been caught up with maintenance, Jack made showed Rose around and kept an eye on her.

So far the watching part had been good except for this little situation they’d gotten into. The Doctor had a hard time being more than a little annoyed with Jack though. It wasn’t realistic to think that he would just drop everything and follow her around, making sure she wouldn’t get herself into trouble. Jack would not coddle her like a child and it would be silly to expect him to.

They were coming up to the infirmary now and the Doctor fully redirected his mind to his main task, figure out what was wrong with Rose.

He slapped the release button for the door and strode in to the room with barely a pause and Rose wasn’t there.

“Rose?” No answer.

“Check all the sub rooms.”

The Doctor turned left and heard Jack moving away to the right to check the opposite set of rooms that led out of the main lab area. The infirmary wasn’t huge but a couple of the rooms held exam tables that might double up as a nice place for a nap. The Doctor met up with Jack at the other side of the room and from the looks of it, Rose was most definitely not in the infirmary.

He sidestepped until he could place his hand on the wall. Jack watched him curiously as his eyes lost their focus. The TARDIS did a scan across the ship and it was determined that Rose was in the console room.

“The console room,” the Doctor dropped his hand and started for the infirmary door.

“So uh, did you see her there or something?”

The Doctor didn’t turn his head but he could hear faint trepidation in Jack’s voice as the man trotted to catch up with the Doctor’s quick strides.

“Nope. She showed me.”

A beat of silence, then, “So does she always tell you what’s going on?”

“Only when I ask or need to know.” Again he was met with silence. “I’m not normally curious about what my companions get up to in their rooms, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

By this time, Jack had caught up to him and was walking side by side. He turned his head and saw that Jack’s face was a bit pale.

“Hope you’re not doing anything I wouldn’t do.”

Jack chuckled and some of the color returned to his face, leaving it at that. 

The two of them moved towards the console room, taking the most direct paths to keep from having to double back to the galley, and the Doctor was going over outlandish potential scenarios for what he might find once they got there. He figured if she wasn’t laying on the grating with an open head wound, he would be quite thankful. Of course, if she had fallen and inflicted a head wound upon herself, the TARDIS would have told him. This was a somewhat comforting thought.

Faint sounds echoing down from the console room were picked up by his ears before they even rounded the final corner. He was positive that Jack wouldn’t have heard anything yet so he kept quiet and tried to listen to what he was hearing. Low garbled mumbling that would probably not be understandable no matter how close they were, and grunting? Breaths heaving like-- as they moved closer, Jack’s face frowned in concentration. He was starting to pick up the noises as well. By this point they were mere metres from the door.

The TARDIS filled his mind and the Doctor was momentarily shocked by the strength of it. Indignation? Concern? The same kinds of feelings he received when he tinkered just a little too much in her wiring or when he’d just come back to the TARDIS injured. Rose.

Jack sped up past him immediately, breaking the Doctor out of his shock. Just on the other side of the wide door to the console room was a lump of fabric. Jeans? Rose’s jeans. He was kneeling beside the abandoned denim, scooping it off the floor and looking back at the Doctor in confusion. 

“What…” Upon reaching the the wide, open doorway that separated the console room and the corridor leading past it, the Doctor stopped dead in his tracks and returned Jack’s look before the sounds drew his attention away. The grunts and heavy breathing had stopped but now there was... humming? Realizing where he was standing, the Doctor turned his head followed the noise to its source.

At least one of his hearts seized up. 

Standing on top of the console with her back to him in only her panties, was Rose with her face pressed against the time roter, hands at its sides. She was kind of shifting her weight side to side as though she were the midst of a slow dance. As though his presence by the door flipped a switch with in her, Rose’s humming ceased, as did her movements. Her grip on the rotor loosened up and in slow motion, she was falling backwards.

There went his other heart.

With a strangled gasp, the Doctor broke into action. Pumping his legs as fast as his Time Lord physiology would allow him to, the Doctor sprinted to the place she was bound to fall. A shout sounded from behind him, obviously from Jack, but the Doctor wasn’t listening. 

He caught her in his arms with a soft ‘oof’ and quickly deposited her onto the jumpseat, just around on the other side of the console, her legs dangling off the end. With quick, efficient movements, the Doctor removed his jacket and draped it over the top of her. His nostrils flared as they were filled with the scent of her arousal. 

Jack came up and stood silently behind the jump seat, arms crossed and a with worried look on his face. He wouldn’t be able to pick up the smell, thank all the gods out there.

The Doctor got to his knees beside her, wincing internally as the grating bit into the skin through his jeans. He placed his hands gently on her head, turning her face up so that he could put his ear next to her lips. Though her face was burning up, soft and even puffs of breath made some of the tension melt away from his shoulders. Next he pulled away just enough to inspect her scalp carefully for any new bumps or lacerations. Nothing.

All signs pointed to sleep. She was just sleeping.

His shoulders drooped as the rest of the urgent concern left his body. He pulled one his hands away from her head and, sighing, let the other one drift to cup her cheek, assessing her warmth. He told himself that was all he was doing. The scent assaulting his senses was creating a bit of havoc in his body. 

The Doctor breathed deeply from his mouth and thanked his luck that he hadn’t shown up any later than he did. Had they not shown up at that moment, she very well could have fallen back off the console and broken her neck. That thought tore at him so he pushed it aside. 

Less importantly, she hadn’t stepped on anything immediately serious when she climbed up on the console. The TARDIS’s feelings in his head hadn’t alerted him of any mispressed buttons or accidentally flipped levers but he could wait until later to do a full check. Right now, he had to get her to the infirmary. 

*********

Rose wanted to kick herself when she realized that she’d unknowingly taken the long route to the infirmary. 

Every so often the weights would appear back on her ankles, sometimes her wrists, once around her forearm, and she’d have to stop and remove them. 

The walls of the TARDIS wouldn’t make up their mind as to whether they wanted to be rough or smooth. When the color saturated and her vision narrowed, she’d get sidetracked and go touch them. After a second or two, they’d smooth out again and she’d be on her way. 

All of this was pulling her attention in multiple directions, distracting her from actually getting to the infirmary. The Doctor would be cross when she got there, she was sure of it. The likely reason was that the TARDIS was playing tricks on her. The tricks didn’t seem to be malicious so probably she was just out for a bit of fun. It was a pretty inconvenient time though, but how did you tell a ship to save her tricks for later? 

More importantly, she wanted to ask if the ship would turn the heat down. Somewhere along the line, the air had become thick and heavy. If it didn’t cool down soon, she would probably consider removing clothing. Rose snorted. Even if she didn’t have the ship all to herself.

It was while she was dwelling on going commando on the time ship that her eyes caught the movement of light against the wall further down. If Rose had to guess, she was coming up on the console room. As she moved closer towards the lights, it became apparent that the lights were moving in regular patterns, appearing on one end of the wall, moving forward and disappearing at the other end. Moving closer, she saw that the lights were coming out from the door to the console room, the boundaries of the door marking where the light would show up and disappear not long after. Having not seen these sorts of lights on the TARDIS, curiosity got the better of her and Rose walked into the console room instead of continuing past to the infirmary.

When she entered, there standing in front of the console, apparently deep in conversation, was the Doctor and Jack, wearing just their boxers briefs. They noticed the heat too!

“Hey I thought we were supposed to be meeting in the infirmary,” Rose called out as she approached the two of them from the doorway.

Both men turned towards her, both wearing looks of delighted surprise.

“This is perfect!” Jack clapped his hands together in emphasis. “Now we don’t have to go get you.”

Rose was confused now. She came up and stopped just a bit away, trying to avert her eyes from the Doctor’s nakedness, though she wasn’t so concerned about Jack’s. She resisted ducking her head to test just how much warmer cheeks had become.

“Rose, you’ve just arrived for Jack’s dance lesson!” The Doctor’s upbeat disposition put Rose at ease. He didn’t seem to be cross that she’d taken her time. 

“What dance lesson?”

“The one where I teach the both of you how to dance like adults.” Rose looked at Jack and wanted to wipe the smirk off his face. She kept her eyes on the Doctor’s face, and only his face, and and saw that he seemed to be completely on board, eyes keen and bright.

“Since we’re both ready, I’ll need you to hurry and catch up with the class. We turned up the heat so we can burn some calories while we’re at it.” Jack turned away and guided the Doctor to a more open section of the console room.

With a light sigh, Rose did as instructed and removed her clothing down to her panties. She finished up by tossing her jeans somewhere over her shoulder and crossing her arms over her chest. This was ridiculous. Why would they need to burn calories? She huffed. The Doctor probably just broke something while he was doing maintenance and got Jack to lie for him. That or they thought she was gaining weight. Rose bristled. She’d show them who was gaining weight.

She dropped her arms and marched up next to the Doctor, standing an arm’s length away from him, facing Jack.

“Ok class. We’re going to start by loosening up a bit. Hands on hips!” Rose hesitated and watched as the Doctor’s hands flew up to his hips, just as Jack instructed, before he turned to look at Rose. She followed the Doctor’s example and blushed when she noticed his eyes flickering to the side a bit.

There was a snap of fingers and Rose turned her attention back to Jack. He brought his hands down to his hips as well and all around them, a bass guitar started up, smooth and funky, followed by a couple of notes twanging from a higher pitched electric. Side to side, Jack moved his hips in time with the beat of the bass, the Doctor following along a couple of seconds later. Rose was last to move. All three of them fell in sync. A high pitched, soulful voice began singing with the music.

“Perfect, you guys are perfect. Now swivel.” Side to side motions morphed into more circular ones, starting with Jack, then moving to the Doctor and Rose. 

The sound was repetitive and hypnotic throwing Rose into a daze. When had the lights in the room become so dark? The time rotor cast the coral walls with a familiar sea-green glow that pulsed along with the music, almost like the TARDIS was participating in the lesson as well. Small and bright reflective lights danced against the walls. When she turned her head to look behind her, the disco lights looked to be emitted from the rotor. 

She liked it. It was like a little party.

A gentle hand glided over her arm and pulled Rose out of her observation. She looked to see who it belonged to and saw that Jack was trying to turn her towards the Doctor who was already up close and facing her. He’d stopped his movements but his hands were still resting upon his hips. Jack, however, still danced to the music, appearing to thoroughly enjoy himself while he taught.

“Now put your hands on each other’s hip.”

Without hesitation the Doctor did as instructed, his keen eyes no longer bright like they were before. Rose moved her hands over his hips in return and felt her stomach do a somersault as both her thumbs and forefingers touched the skin above his boxer briefs. Soft skin covering solid hip bones and rope-like muscle weaved in between. All she could concentrate on was that. She inched her hands up just a bit higher, trying to cover it up as an adjustment, so that her middle finger and half her palms were treated to the experience. This is him under that sweater. Everyday this was under his sweater she was touching it. She felt like she was holding the most precious thing in existence. The Doctor’s hips.

Even with his hands wrapped firmly on her hips, large hands nearly covering most of her lower sides, Rose couldn’t get over the fact that he was letting her touch him. Would she ever be allowed to touch him like this again? It never occurred to her that she was giving the Doctor a full view of her naked torso. With the weight of the heat in the room, she might has well have been wearing a full outfit. She was completely at ease with herself.

The man putting a full-stop on her brain spoke.

“My eyes are up here.”

Rose dragged her eyes up to his and saw darkness there that made her involuntarily squeeze her thighs together.

So caught up in the Doctor, Rose never felt the breath against her earlobe until she heard the voice that went along with it. Jack’s amused whisper pushed some of the embarrassment she ought to have felt earlier forward. 

“Move your hips. Side to side with the music.”

The Doctor’s eyes moved to the voice at her ear and then back to her own as he started moving with the music. Rose followed dumbly, falling deeper and deeper into the Doctor’s eyes as time flowed on.

When the back of her knees touched the jumpseat, Rose fell back in a daze, unaware that she had ever been moving towards it. She looked up at the Doctor standing over her with fathomless eyes, lips parted like he may have been slightly breathless though it seemed silly that the Time Lord could ever be out of breath.

Fingertips lightly brushed across her shoulders, dancing their way up her neck. In front of her, the Doctor slowly went down to his knees and settling himself between her legs. His eyes left her’s and ran down along her neck, over her breasts, taking in her torso. When she shivered, she didn’t know if it was from the fingers making their way through her locks or if it was from the foreign, devouring look the Doctor was swallowing her up with.

“Bring her legs up to your hips. Move to the music.” Jack instructed from behind her with a low voice.

The Doctor brought his hands up beneath her thighs and tugged at them, shifting Rose forward a bit. She could feel her own heat against his front as it stopped and built up against his body. Her thighs were being pressed against his hips and Rose watched lazily as he swayed back and forth to the low bass of the music. 

Jack’s hands gathered her hair and tugged it back just a bit more than gentle, so her head reclined back against the jumpseat, tearing her eyes away from the Doctor to the time rotor and exposing her neck. Rose let out a surprised gasp at the same time as Jack’s amused hum floated past her ears.

“Now swivel.”

Just as instructed, the Doctor’s sways back and forth began to develop more of a circular pattern. It started with a faint brush between her legs, the barest touch that ghosted past. Then his hips came back around, more pressure and Rose bit her lip, trying to keep herself silent. This was a lesson and she was afraid of being the one to interrupt. His hips came by again and Rose couldn’t help but whimper as she felt the evidence that this was more than a dance lesson to the Doctor.

Jack’s soft chuckle sounded right next to her ear and his hot breath in the hotter atmosphere was almost stifling. His fingers in her hair were firm, keeping her head in one place while another set of fingertips came up from behind, brushed her lips and put a soft pressure on her chin. Rose’s mouth parted with little coaxing.

“Why don’t you open a bit wider to show the Doctor how good a dancer he is?”

Instinctively she parted her thighs wider and the Doctor’s hips sank past her knees. He made firm contact against her now, pulling a strangled cry from her lips.

The Doctor’s answering smile was wicked.

“Why don’t you thank her, Doctor?”

The Doctor’s hips never ceased to move with the beat of the music as he leaned forward. Tentatively he moved one of his hands from her hips to her cheek and Rose locked her ankles around his back to keep her legs from falling. Jack must have moved his fingers because the Doctor’s other hand came up to her other cheek, caressing her face gently. 

Jack’s fingers loosened from her hair, allowing the Doctor more control as he adjusted her face and came closer, Rose noticed they were panting in sync, his coming out completely silent while hers was laced with whimpers and sighs. The Doctor definitely knew what he was doing to her and pressed himself more firmly on the next beat, as though timing for a moan instead of a whimper. He succeeded, of course, and Jack laughed softly.

Rose watched as his face invaded her whole view, his eyes flicked after long lingers from her face and her lips. Her tongue darted out to moisten them in anticipation for the kiss. The Doctor’s lips were so close, his cooling breath puffing sweetly against her face. Her eyes slid shut just as his lips should have touched her own.

When nothing happened, she opened her eyes.

No music. No disco lights. The world was spinning, yet she was safe.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta: Rishidiams
> 
> From here on out, the following chapters will be released a little more quickly than the normal weekly schedule. There aren't many left but after two months of no updates, it's the best I can do in terms of an apology.

After assessing Rose for any immediate life threatening injury, the Doctor adjusted his coat properly around her shoulders and scooped her up into his arms. Though it was far too big for her frame, once she was tucked against his chest, the coat closed neatly in on itself, protecting her modesty. Without so much as a glance over at Jack, he made his way to the infirmary. The other man needed no prompting and hastily followed, walking quickly to move ahead of the Doctor, as they made their way through the halls.

They weren't too far down the corridor when the Doctor heard his name drift up past his ears. He slowed his stride and looked down just at the same moment Rose pulled her head up to gaze at him with bleary, sleep-clouded eyes. Her face was flushed and tendrils of hair stuck to her forehead with sweat. Even in such a sickly state, he still found her to be absolutely lovely. 

"I like it better when you carry me."

Her voice was faint and breathless, just low enough to not have caught Jack's attention.

He felt his ears set on fire, despite the fact that she clearly wasn't all there and probably had no idea what she was saying. He internally denied that it was him that she liked being carried by, even if she had just said his name moments ago, but the effect was there all the same. That nasty, betraying blush that probably had turned his ears the color of tomatoes made her smile though, and he thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad blush. 

Rose's eyes fluttered shut and her head fell against his chest. 

The Doctor felt bad that he was somewhat relieved she'd fallen back asleep but it was most certainly all for the best. He couldn't face her embarrassed reaction if she remembered later on that she'd said those things to him. Embarrassing as it would be for her, it would be downright painful for him.

Jack slowed down a bit and fell into step with the Doctor, confusion written all over his face.

"This hall doesn't look familiar."

"The TARDIS probably moved the infirmary closer. Just follow me."

Already the TARDIS was mentally guiding him where to go. They turned down a stretch of hall that held no doors or alternate pathways except the familiar infirmary door at the opposite end. Jack was already walking ahead, presumably to hit the release button.

A pair of arms slithered up around his neck and shocked the Doctor into looking back down at his supposedly slumbering little companion. She was no longer sleeping, though still clearly not completely awake either. Rose looked up at him with that same vacant, sleepy gaze and it occurred to him that she might be dreaming at that moment. He wondered if she wouldn't be sleep walking right now if he put her down.

"Do you think we can finish that dance lesson?"

The Doctor frowned in confusion and Rose pulled herself up to press her lips against his.

Shocked, the Doctor stopped completely, suddenly forgetting where he was supposed to be going. Her lips were soft and plush, molding pleasingly to his. The already feverishly warm temperature of her body was now searing where small patches of their skin connected. Two seconds exactly went by and the Doctor couldn't help but be drawn in, tentatively moving his lips along with hers in a chaste dance. He instantly knew this was something he would never tire of doing. 

Both his arms flexed out of need to hold her more tightly and adjust her to a more favorable position, his efforts being rewarded with Rose's faint hum of contentment. That sweet sound however broke the spell and the Doctor moved his head away to look at her face. The vision was breath-taking. A dazed Rose with a lazy, triumphant grin. He couldn't help but return the smile even though the back of his mind was screaming at him to pull himself together.

Rose's eyes drifted shut again and her head slumped down to his shoulder. And when her beautiful face ceased to fill his entire line of sight, the Doctor was met with the biggest grin in existence, this side of the Universe.

The Doctor's own smile instantly dropped. 

Jack stood there and the Doctor was nearly worried the other man’s face might break in two.

"Enjoy yourself there, Doc?"

Jack held his hands up defensively when he was answered with a glare.

"Alright, alright," he mumbled and turned to smack the door release. As soon as the door slid open, the Doctor strode past, ignoring the residual grin on his male companion's face and went to deposit Rose on the same exam table he'd examined her on just two days earlier. Jack was on his heels like an excited puppy. 

"Think she'll be up and going as soon as we cure her?"

"Jack."

"Do you think she'll have a hard time remembering what happened when tomorrow comes around?"

"Jack."

"Do you want some time to go take care of that erection?"

The Doctor spun around. 

“Because I can stand here and-”

"Go to Rose's room and find her some pyjamas,” the Doctor growled.

"Okay, okay, okay... Think she'll be stif--" 

The Doctor took one step forward and Jack made a hasty exit.

With a heavy sigh, the Doctor readjusted the leather coat so that it was completely covering her chest where it had fallen open, having shifted when he first set her down, and pulled a sheet up to cover her legs. When he was satisfied that she was suitably covered, he got to work setting up the scanning equipment, finishing relatively quickly since most of the set up had been done when he scanned her before. On the bed, Rose mumbled about the heat and kicked away the sheet and began shrugging out of his jacket. Quickly, the Doctor jumped over and helped her out of his jacket before pulling the sheet completely back over her. He put his hand over her forehead, which was now almost dripping with perspiration, and furrowed his brow. Whatever was happening to her was raising her body temperature rapidly at this point. He filed that bit of information away and went promptly to find a cold compress for her forehead. When he returned, she was thankfully just how he left her. He placed the compress on her forehead and watched relief flutter over her features in seconds.

The Doctor slipped his jacket back on, briefly pausing to take in her scent that lingered in the fabric. Another piece of information he'd file away for later. A chance to be surrounded by Rose was something he didn't want to forget. 

The Doctor pulled the scanner over her head, satisfied she wouldn't move, and turned it on. A holographic image of her brain filled the air above the scanner along with the diagnostic readings the Doctor was looking for. He typed a command into the terminal next to the bed to save the data to his network before he looked back at the image. Quick and efficient swipes of his finger maneuvered the image so that he could examine each part closely until he came to the hippocampus and frowned. The Doctor blew up the image and saw that there appeared to be... movement? Upon closer examination, the Doctor's visage darkened considerably.

More like swarming. There was something swarming in her brain, particularly the part that controlled sleep regulation. Only the occasional smaller specks of light that occasionally jumped away from a larger group covering region of the brain gave any clue as to how many organisms there actually could be. Millions? Billions? If he was a lesser man, he'd have probably found himself sick with the vision. His Time Lord body didn't allow the sickness to manifest itself physically, but the icy tendrils of fear couldn't be fought off by superior biology.

It was then that Jack chose to arrive back in the infirmary.

Reading the atmosphere, the man wisely chose to keep his mouth shut, placing the clothing on the counter beside the door and walked up beside the Doctor to get a view of what he was seeing. 

"What the fuck is that?"

The Doctor didn't answer right away as he wracked his brain for answers. Just off the top of his head he could list hundreds of different parasites that could enter a host’s body, use its environment to breed, and create devastating miladies that ravaged the host. Though some of them presented equally terrifying possibilities, none of them were quite like this. It chewed him up inside that he didn't have an immediate answer. The Doctor was more than just a name. It was a title that he'd earned in more fields than he had time at the moment to count. An amusing thought considering he was a lord of time.

"I don't know. This isn't something I've ever heard about. Of course there have been similar things, there always are, but this is new to me."

Jack, who had obviously placed a lot of trust in the fact that he generally had all the answers, looked a little lost.

The Doctor swiped away the disturbing image and brought up the readings. Jack crowded in closer to get a look at the circular language and accompanying numbers. 

 

**********

 

Disgust, worry, fright, sadness, and guilt melded together and formed a lead ball that sunk deep into Jack's gut. Although she only appeared to be sleeping, the stress of what was happening to her body was clearly evident and it felt deeply unsettling that he could have stopped the cause. 

Jack exhausted his brain, going back over his memory of what happened. They were at some unremarkable club on New Bangkok and she’d taken a break from dancing, presumably for a drink, as she’d gone straight for the bar when she’d left the dance floor. Initially upon sitting down, she’d been alone. Thinking her to be relatively safe, his focus went mostly back to dancing and then next thing he knew, she was talking to the brown alien. 

He really didn’t know anything about that species, so that had to be the first step.

"Do you have a database on known species, and can I access it with any language other than yours?"

Still looking at the hologram, the Doctor looked deep in thought as he rubbed his chin absently. "No on the language, but I can look up any species you need."

"Good. Can you look up the X'olgan?"

Nodding, the Doctor tore himself away from the hologram and tugged down a nearby terminal screen that hung suspended from the ceiling. It lowered easily attached to a cable made of some malleable unknown metal but seemed quite solid when the Doctor started typing none too gently against the touch screen.

"X'olglan? X'alglan?" Jack thought out loud as he tried to recall the proper name.

"X'oglan," the Doctor corrected.

More typing and then an article appeared on the screen, along with a generic picture of both a male and female representation of the species.

"That's definitely it."

Without replying, the Doctor read over the article, eyes dancing across the screen. Several seconds went by and Jack chanced a glance back over at Rose. He hadn't heard her say anything but she'd tossed a bit because one of her legs was now exposed from under the sheet the Doctor had spread over her. His previous feelings of self-deprecation took over and Jack turned away, looking back at the Doctor.

"Well I don't see anything about this species being able to inject anything through natural means. They have no telepathic ability either. At this this time period, I doubt anything could have been injected without Rose having felt it. I'd say he definitely had to have put something in her drink. I guess that's where you come in."

Jack's mouth tightened, "I don’t need any extra help in that area."

"I'm not saying you do," The Doctor turned to face Jack and crossed his arms. "But maybe that guy at the bar did, which means he had to probably get something off the street to put into her drink." 

Jack watched the Doctor look pointedly at Rose before he moved around to the exam table to cover her exposed leg with the sheet.

Spotting a chair in the corner of the room, Jack walked over and took a seat. He leaned forward and rested his elbows upon his knees, folding his hands in front of him while he thought over date rape drugs on the street. 

"I don't want to have to do surgery." The Doctor was now back in front of the of the hologram, switching between the brain view and pouring over numbers. Jack watched the little lights march around like ants on that one particular spot of her brain and listened as the Doctor worked the problem out vocally. 

"They weren't there two days ago, which means exponential cell growth. We’re assuming it entered into her bloodstream via ingestion."

"Through liquid," Jack supplied. 

"Yeah." 

The faint inkling of an idea started to form in Jack's mind. Typically date rape drugs were chemically based. Easy to alter and produce. Quick to distribute. Find the right chemical combination, pair it with low production prices, and that combination could turn into high street profits. Over the course of time that he was familiar with, this had never really changed. 

Chemicals don't replicate, though; but biologicals do. Every now and then, even though the rate of success historically was never really all that high, people tried to fiddle with biological entities. Such things are perfect for weapons because when the end result is to maim or kill, all you have to worry about are species by species immunities, with random instances of enhancement very low or unheard of. There's generally little need for finesse, though some mad scientists out there might disagree. Biological entities, however, are quite unfavorable when you need someone to submit or forget so you can take advantage of them. Outright killing anyone can bring a whole host of problems and extra work, and it's turned up time and time again that results, when working with biologicals, tended to be unpredictable just as often as not.

Maybe, just maybe, Rose may have been subject to one of those rare test and fail trials where organisms were used instead of chemicals. That would speak for her nearly unheard of symptoms. The alien could have slipped her an ice cube with some kind of organism in suspended animation inside. Nothing would have tasted any different, except for a watered down drink, and more than likely, she wouldn't have taken long enough in finishing her drink for the ice to completely melt.

How that alien had managed to do it right in front of her face was still a mystery but this was definitely something to go on.

"Doc."

"What?" He was obviously still too distracted to say anything about Jack's shortening of his name.

"Search up 64th century experiments involving sleep and lucid dreaming."

A second went by before the Doctor spun around with a grin on his face.

"Now that is a fantastic idea."

Jack couldn't help the little bubble of pride that formed and temporarily blocked out the lump of bad feelings that had settled in his stomach. They were definitely on the right path. Things that he could vaguely remember hearing about, snippets of whispers while out and about in the clubs were starting to add up and form fragments of thoughts.

Some drugs were released on the streets and made a splash. Whether it was the price or the ease of use, or the reliability, Jack felt like he was reasonably familiar with all the major ones, and all of those tended to be chemical drugs now that he really thought about it. The proof moving around in Rose's brain right now pointed towards a biological drug, a parasite. Those tended to pass into obscurity before even making themselves known when it was apparent that they were ineffective for a very specific intended use. Biological drugs also tended to be smuggled away from the labs that had initially engineered them. So why would someone engineer, assuming it was engineered, an organism that burrows in the mind and makes people fatigued, sleep walk, and have very vivid dreams where the user cannot figure out if they dreaming or actually awake? 

For non-malevolent purposes? Probably some kind of brain or sleep study.

"I think I got it," The Doctor cut through his thoughts after some time, "I found a study that was investigating the hypnagogic dream state and the scientists that were using a very specifically engineered protist to do it. There's a full lab report here that details the same kinds of symptoms that Rose seems to be suffering from. It even explains why I didn't see anything before and why there are so many parasites now."

The Doctor paused briefly, considering the information on the screen in front of him. "The TARDIS didn't pick up on the foreign organisms when she brought brought them in. I wonder if it was because of the way they were engineered..." 

Jack didn't prompt him when he trailed off, evidently lost in the mystery of why the TARDIS hadn’t destroyed the little rogue creatures when Rose initially brought them on board. Several moments passed when suddenly the Doctor left the exam room only to return minutes later to secure the sheet around Rose and scoop her up. He carried her out of the exam room and Jack craned his neck, watching the two of them enter into another side room. Several more minutes passed and Jack stood to follow when it was apparent the Doctor wasn’t going to return. The two of them were in what Jack could only assume was a resting room. Rose laid with just a sheet for cover on top of a comfortable looking, neatly made bed that was placed center against the perpendicular wall to his left. To his right, opposite of the bed, was a large sofa chair facing out from the far corner. A window situated directly across the room from Jack and the observation window streamed in soft, artificial sunlight, casting Rose in warm glow. She'd have looked angelic if her sweat drenched face and pinched brow weren't there to mar the image. 

The Doctor moved quickly back and forth within the small area. Occasionally he left to grab supplies from one of the other small rooms attached to the main lab area, or he'd walked up to the only terminal in the resting room and type something in. After reading that report, Jack was positive the Doctor had everything under control, which left him watching everything and feeling somewhat useless. 

Somewhere behind him, the deep hum of a machine kicked up. The Doctor walked up to the machine, and stood in front of it, arms crossed and foot tapping while it worked. It was a rather plain looking box shaped thing that reminded Jack of a coffee machine. A small display on the front blinked a couple of times and with a ding, the hum switched off. The Doctor pulled a vial out of some opening in the machine and made his way back to Rose's room. Jack watched the same scene play out twice more and he worked out that the machine was probably synthesizing different drugs that were required to help Rose. No doubt it was connected to a network and the Doctor was simply sending it commands from the terminal in Rose's room. It was as though they were in an office and the Doctor was simply picking up the documents he'd sent over for printing.

"Jack, why don't you go get that change of clothes from earlier. Bring'em over."

Thankful for the distraction, Jack made his way back to the exam room and gathered up the clothing he'd retrieved earlier. He came back to the room in time to see the Doctor setting up an IV bag next to Rose's bed. Jack stood just inside the doorway, choosing to hover near the door and out of the immediate vicinity of the bed area until he was called over. The atmosphere of the room had become tense without Jack having even noticed because when the Doctor finally spoke, something inside Jack jumped a little.

"I'll drug her. Not that she needs anymore drug induced sleep," he sighed. "The concoction these scientists brewed up to remove the parasites safely might also cause Rose some discomfort."

"So you'll feed that stuff you got out of the coffee maker into the IV and that's it? No more funny stuff?"

"Pretty much. I'll have to sit here and pay attention so I can level out her histamine levels."

"I don't suppose there's anything I can do to help?"

As he spoke, the Doctor twisted a vial into the bottom of the IV drip, "You can hand me those clothes you brought and go get a drink."

Jack stepped forward and placed the clothing on the foot of Rose's bed. A ball of bad feelings had settled back into his stomach once more and he supposed a drink couldn't hurt. He placed his faith in the fact that where Rose was concerned, the Doctor would not fail, not that he could really do much if something went wrong.

"How long do you think it will take?"

"Shouldn't be up and going until tomorrow at least."

"Are you su--

"Jack," the Doctor cut his question off and Jack shut his mouth. "Just go blow off some steam."

With one last look at Rose, Jack turned and left the Doctor to his task.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Partly beta-ed by Rishidiams. The other part was checked and rechecked and rechecked by myself.

Once Jack left the lab, the Doctor finished setting up a tray with the rest of the necessary items he would need to cure Rose’s condition. He worked swiftly yet methodically, forcing his brain to concentrate solely on the task at hand, and though he was reaching a critical point of both mental and physical exhaustion, his work never suffered, he couldn’t allow it to. No doubt the situation was serious but he was still relieved to have a task to focus on. He tossed away her protective sheet, and with the same disciplined motions, began dressing Rose in the garments Jack had delivered earlier. Nervousness that he never felt building up released upon seeing her back in normal clothing. Normality was a bit closer to being reestablished.

While dressing her, his heightened senses noticed that heat radiated out from her body in thick waves. Now that she was positively burning up, he pushed aside the bedding but still kept it close at hand, so that he easily could pull it over her when the treatments started taking effect.

The Doctor carefully inserted the IV into her arm and fed a light sedative into the IV bag that would drip medicine laced solution. She would continue sleeping while the vaccine worked on her body. Once she was properly hooked into the machine, he switched it on and began her treatments.

Over the course of several hours, he watched over her, alternating between monitoring and regulating her histamine levels. There was, at times, an overwhelming need to hold her hand. Sometimes he’d think of stroking the soft skin on the inside of her wrist, and others he’d fantasize of tracing the outlines of her fingers to examine the lines that made her, her. With majority of the work complete, his traitorous mind tried to coax him into doing things that he would never have possibly been entertained before, but now it was imperative that he keep his thoughts in line and hands to himself. 

The Doctor was haunted by a kiss. A gift he had received but which had been unwillingly given. It was a gift so great that things like holding her hand and touching her fingers seemed selfish to take in comparison, especially so soon after. No matter how unwilling the giver, the gift would be cherished and treasured for as long as he would remember, and, given his species, that would be a very long time.

Fluctuations in her histamine levels eventually leveled out and shortly after, she’d cooled off enough that he could cover her up with the blankets that were pushed aside on the bed. Not long after, the IV bag ran dry so he removed it from her arm and dressed the tiny wound. Rose never even shifted, and when he leaned closer to examine her eyelids, he saw no movement.

If this was the first bit of restful sleep she’d had in several days, he’d leave her to it and perform the last of the tests when she woke naturally. If there were any more of those little beasts left in her body, he’d have a better chance of seeing them after a bit of time passed anyway, after they’d had a chance to multiply. 

With his tasks complete, the fatigue he’d been holding off finally washed over his body. His shoulders slumped and his head grew heavy. He briefly entertained the thought of nudging Rose over and climbing into bed beside her, but quickly banished the thought. His eyes drifted to the much less enticing but far more appropriate chair across the room.

The Doctor sighed deeply and pushed himself up, trudging wearily over to the chair. It was wide and comfortable with a back that was just low and deep enough to comfortably recline his head. He had to wonder if the TARDIS had designed the room knowing all along that he would need a good nap chair. Once he settled himself, the Doctor fully gave over to exhaustion and let his head fall back.

His eyes slipped closed and he completely melted into the chair. As his body grew heavy, suddenly the chair beneath him pushed up to meet his flesh, creating the perfect equilibrium for relaxation. Consciousness didn’t simply flicker out. Sleep poured slowly into his mind, gradually filled it, pushing out the wakefulness as it floated up and dispersed. The TARDIS’s peaceful hums steadily became white noise and a sort of weightless overtook his body.

It crept forward like a storm front in the distance, great and imposing and imminent. The Doctor embraced it and waited for sleep to reach him, unaware that it was silently creeping up from behind. Before he even realized it, slumber had enveloped him from both sides.

The lightest, most ticklish of touches cast a line through the darkness and sliced the white noise in two. Tiny, feathery touches upon his cheek and his neck, just enough to draw his senses back from the blackness but not so bothersome that he would push them away. Then he felt the warmth. It was just the slightest bit humid, a gauzy blanket draped over his face and neck. It was comforting and familiar, a feeling he could do nothing less than bask in. Then the smell. A very familiar smell he couldn't place in this foggy state. A distinct, honeyed scent that almost felt more like home than the TARDIS.

Then a kiss. A press upon his lips so tentative and intimate he wanted to cry. It began as tiny, light, and feathery as the other touches but it was too distinct for it to be any other touch but that of one person’s lips pressed against another’s. This pair of lips was soft, if not just a little bit on the dry side. The Doctor cocked his head slightly for a better fit. Their fullness brought up mental images of another, more recognizable set, accompanied by a peak of a cute, rosy tongue. He snaked a hand up to card his fingers through the silky hair that accompanied those beautiful lips, grasping tenderly so that their mouths could mould together completely. 

The Doctor’s eyes shot open when his actions elicited a familiar whimper from his partner’s lips.

Before he knew it, the Doctor scrambled out of the chair, taking care not to push her away too violently, but working desperately to increase the space between him and his dreamed up lover.

“Rose, I’m sorry - I can’t.” He tried to keep his voice as firm as possible, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t shaken. He cringed internally at the underlying sadness he couldn’t keep out of his tone. He didn't know how much more his resolve could take.

Even with her head down and her face hidden behind a curtain of blonde, the embarrassment rolled off her posture in waves. Her embarrassment channeled itself directly into the Doctor's hearts and transformed into pain. He knew that he had to tread carefully here. It would kill him if he made her feel bad for this, even as it tore him apart that she probably regretted kissing him in the first place. She had just awoken from a near constant dream state and her mind obviously wasn’t thinking clearly. Moreover, he knew he shouldn't even allow himself the luxury of these feelings. He didn't deserve her and she didn't deserve to be chained down to him.

“Rose,” he began softly, “why don’t you have a seat and I’ll tell you what’s been going on here?”

He stepped further away from the chair he’d just vacated and gestured for her to sit. With a bit of hesitance, she went over and sat down on the edge of the chair, keeping herself closed off, her head bowed. With cautious steps, the Doctor moved in front of her and knelt down, drawing the sonic from his pocket before his knee hit the floor.

“Hey.”

She wrung her fingers nervously but otherwise, didn’t move to reply.

The Doctor reached through the protective curtain of hair and found her chin gently with his fingers, tilting her head up, and felt both his hearts break at what he saw.

His lovely girl stared back at him confused, slightly defiant, and with what made him want her more: heartbroken eyes. She was completely silent as she stared back at him, those eyes rimmed with red and valiantly fighting a losing battle to hold back tears. 

“Hey.”

Rose was only able to bite out half an apology before a half stifled sob bubbled up from her throat.

Instantly the Doctor slipped his sonic back into his jacket and guided her to take comfort in his arms. She buried her face in his jacket and he opened up his mind to hers, nudging feelings of caring, safety, and calmness into her body. He took the greatest care to be subtle, not wanting to overwhelm her mind with overtly foreign feelings. Her cries were soft and filled with confusion and exhaustion. His Rose was typically so strong but with all her body had been through, he supposed it wasn’t surprising that she needed some kind of release.

When the cries went silent, he pulled back slowly to look at her face again. Most of her excess tears had been sucked up by his jacket but a few remained. He offered her a warm smile and swiped his thumb across her cheeks to gather the stray tears. Rose simply watched him and when he was satisfied, the Doctor again fished his sonic from his pocket.

“I’m sorry-”

He cut her off before she could go on to finish the sentence. For now he wanted to focus on her condition. Safer ground, to be sure.

“No need to apologize, your body is under a lot of stress right now. Do you remember what’s been happening to you for the past couple of days?”

An adorable crinkle formed between her brows for several seconds before her thumb drifted up, between her lips and she averted her eyes. He was dying to know what she was remembering. 

“I suppose I recall some... crazy things happening,” she stated softly. “I… guess now looking back, it's easier to tell what really happened and what might not have.”

“How are you feeling right now?”

She laughed bitterly.

“Besides the obvious? Still tired I guess, but,” she paused and looked back at him, her eyes grew bright with surprise. “My head feels clear. Like...like it’s not foggy…”

Rose surveyed the room, as if seeing it anew.

“Before it was like looking through a magnifying glass.” She frowned. ”Sort of.”

The Doctor scrolled through settings on the sonic and held it up to her eyes.

“Look right at me.”

Rose did as asked and the Doctor turned on the sonic, lining it up with each eye, and watched as her pupils immediately contracted in the direct light.

“Well you’re alert and reacting properly to light, which is good."

He put the sonic back into his pocket and moved to stand up but halted when Rose's hand grasped his own. Her pleading eyes were enough to reverse his movements and he remained on his knees in front of her. She seemed worried, unsure. The Doctor tried to convey patience when he looked back at her and waited for her to say something. It took a couple of moments but when she finally spoke. There was more strength to her voice than he had heard since she’d woken. Bit by bit, she was coming back to herself.

"I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened for sure, or what didn't happen, but," she blushed and drew both hands back into her lap. "If I did anything to... make you feel uncomfortable, I'm sorry."

The Doctor's gave her a soft look and slowly he rotated his caught hand so it grasped hers.

"Again, You have nothing to apologize for,” he replied tenderly.

He squeezed her hand meaningfully and stood up. He let go of her to fold his arms protectively over his chest as he backed away and smoothed his features into a safer, more friendly and neutral look.

"Now that you're awake, let's get you all checked up on and fed. I imagine you'll get tired again in no time."

Rose seemed to understand that the previous topic of conversation had come to a close. As the Doctor moved away, she stood up and her hands fell to her sides. Her brow crinkled once again.

"Are you gonna tell me what happened to me?"

"Of course," he replied gruffly. "I’ll be doing that while I scan that head of yours. C'mon."

The Doctor turned and walked out of the room, trying to remind himself that he was walking and not fleeing.

 

***********

Rose was led to the same room in the infirmary that the Doctor had taken her to after he found her in her bathroom. As he put her under the scanner, he explained about the little creatures that had swarmed around in her brain. He told her about their probable origins and how he suspected they might have gotten in system. Each little bit of information the Doctor revealed seeded and cultivated a sense of discomfort and disgust that was only assuaged slightly when he announced that she was bug free.

After that, the Doctor hustled her off to her room where she was given a bit of time to visit her en suite and tidy up. He promised would return with a light meal but when she left her bathroom feeling a bit fresher, he was nowhere to be found. Rose settled down in her bed and pulled her duvet up around her shoulders while she thought over what exactly had taken place the last few days. The Doctor had told her his theories on what happened and now that she could recall clearly, it wasn't so big a leap to think that the brown alien from the other night had drugged her. Of course she was upset with herself for even allowing something like that to happen. She wasn't so drunk that she could excuse her carelessness and she thanked the fact that she was traveling with a heroic conman and a genius doctor who had actually proven himself to know quite a bit about healing.

More than anything else though, Rose was embarrassed. Nearly the entire time she had been traveling with the Doctor, Rose had always been interested in the Doctor, but she liked to think that she didn't let it consume her. Those little bugs, the Doctor had called them protists, like out of a biology lecture, brought out some very odd fantasies that Rose didn't even realize had been floating around in her subconscious mind. She could blame the bugs for creating the hallucinations but they hadn’t created them out of thin air. The attraction was there for sure. What was truly embarrassing was the fact that she had woken up and been so obsessed with finally getting the kiss her dream Doctor had kept denying her, that she attacked the real Doctor while he was napping. Maybe there was a message in there somewhere.

A sadness washed over her with that thought. She desperately wished the Doctor would return her feelings but perhaps she was doomed to keep chasing while he kept denying.

Rose decided she wouldn't continue that depressing line of thinking.

The Doctor arrived with the plate of food he had promised, and Rose ate while stealing glances at the alien sitting next to her. He pulled a book from one of the bottomless pockets of his coat, and propped it open, thumbing through the pages until he finally decided where he would begin. When she finished eating, the Doctor set aside the plate and waited for her to get settled before he began a new short story he hadn't read to her yet.

Rose drifted off while she half listened to the low drone of his gruff, Northern tones.

********

Jack decided that for the sake of his own sanity, he'd make himself scarce until the next day. Who knew? Maybe he'd make himself scarce for far longer if things didn't turn themselves around, especially if he wasn’t up to facing Rose and the Doctor after a nights worth of drinking. The fact that the Doctor hadn’t come right out and blamed him for what had happened to Rose was a small comfort, however he made up for it by the no small amount of guilt he held for himself.

When he made his way out of the TARDIS and into the neon streets of New Bangkok. Jack was on one mission: to become ridiculously drunk. He briefly entertained the thought of losing himself in a club but that just didn’t seem right. No, today he'd go off the beaten path, or well defined road, and find himself a dark, smoky bar. One preferably filled with depressing regulars. As if the seedier part of town called to him, Jack made a bee line for a bar he knew would fit the setting he was hoping to drown himself in and spent the entire night there.

New Bangkok had no sun to speak of but the people who ran the local government established a time cycle to keep things running in sync and that was how Jack knew how much time he spent drinking three stools down from Amar, a smelly miner who admitted at one point to spending nearly all his earnings at that single location. Amar had said nothing to Jack for the first two hours, then made light conversation the third, and by the fourth, sat by in companionable silence until somewhere around the fifth, he hobbled off. After the miner had gone, Jack felt satisfied that he’d spent enough time there too.

Something was cleansing about the atmosphere and early morning lingering drunkenness, allowing Jack to finally clear his head. The tension of the night hadn't completely left him but something seemed to click and Jack knew that everything would be all right. Of course he still worried for Rose, but the Doctor had seemed sure that he would be able to cure her and Jack had little reason not to trust him in that. He wasn't worried about Rose holding a grudge either. Rose was a naturally kind hearted and sweet person who would never intentionally place her problems on the shoulders of others. Jack knew that a man of his training should have been more vigilant and that was what made him hold on to his guilt. The first thing he would do when he saw her would be to apologize.

Jack made it back to the TARDIS and went straight to the infirmary. When he stepped into the area and checked the various sub-rooms, he saw no sign of the Doctor or Rose. The resting room the Doctor had taken Rose to, looked as though no one had even used it. The bed was tidy and there was no trace of the medicine, or the tools the Doctor had gathered to administer it.

Next, Jack went to Rose's room and put his ear to the door. The Doctor's soft murmur could be heard distantly if he concentrated and held his breath. Jack lips curled into a gentle smile and he made his way to his own room for a few hours of real rest he now thought he could get.

 

**********

 

A full sleep later, Jack rolled out of bed, showered, dressed, and headed for Rose's room. Now was the time to apologize. To run right over to her room was all he could think of when he first woke up, but he figured she wouldn't appreciate the eau de dive-bar fragrance he'd woken up smelling of so he opted to shower first instead. Upon arriving at her room, he found out rather quickly that she wasn't there. Had he really slept that long or was she back in the infirmary? Hastily he made his way back to the infirmary to check, each step he took coiling tension tighter, and tighter in the pit of his stomach.

Jack finally made it and found the entire place to be... empty.

Not in her room, nor the infirmary? He didn't know what to make of it but the tension in his stomach began to uncoil a bit. These all seemed like good signs. Jack hurried on.

Next he walked to the galley. Caught up with anxiety, he hit the door release button a little harshly and felt a mild charge run through his palm where the skin came in contact with the wall, coupled with a feeling of admonishment. Jack felt a bit like a little boy being scolded for running in the house. He barely spared a sorry before he rushed through the open door to find a sleepy looking Rose, clutching a mug between her hands. Jack's stomach dropped.

"Rose?"

He made his way over to the chair she sat in and dropped to his knees next to her, looking up to search her face for any of the same signs she exhibited the day before when he had made her breakfast.

Concern flit across her features. She let go of her mug and turned her body slightly to face the man beside her, "Is everything ok?"

"I should be asking that. How are you feeling?"

Rose turned her head away and let out a great yawn, "Quite sleepy actually."

She turned back to him with a dazed expression and continued, "I saw the funniest thing too."

Jack's brow furrowed.

"I saw the Doctor dance a jig just behind you."

Jack knew there was no one behind him, but still he whipped around to search the empty space behind him and panic bubbled up in his chest when his eyes confirmed what he already knew. Quickly he stood up, grabbing Rose's arm as if to haul her back to the infirmary himself, but stopped cold when she began to giggle.

"You should have saw-"

"Rose Tyler! You..."

Unsure how to finish, he finished plucking her smaller body from the chair and crushed her in a bear hug.

"I'm so, so sorry for not watching out for you back at the bar the other night."

Rose squeaked at the sudden embrace and took a second to gather herself before she patted his back reassuringly.

"No,” she stated firmly, though slightly breathless from being crushed. “I should have paid more attention. Doctor told me about what you guys thought happened and I have to admit, I was sort of day dreaming when that alien came up next to me."

Jack let her go and moved to sit at the table directly across from Rose's previous seat. Rose sat down as well and smiled when Jack clutched her hands with both of his own. She squeezed back comfortingly.

"See I just knew you'd forgive me," he laughed. "I do mean it though. I feel like crap for not having paid more attention.”

She shook her head. "Really. I'm old enough to take care of myself. I don't blame you at all for what happened. The Doctor didn't seem like he blamed you either."

Jack sighed. "I was a little surprised. He...there's no telling what's going on in that brain of his."

Rose disengaged her hands and pulled her mug close to her chest, a far off look appeared in her eyes.

"No, there isn't, is there?" she replied.

Jack wondered how much she remembered exactly. He might tease her later for the console trick she pulled but now wasn't the time.

"I just wonder though, why me?"

"Hm?"

"Why did that alien put the stuff, the little creatures in my drink?"

Jack leaned back and raised a brow.

"You really don't know?"

Rose shrugged.

"You're a gorgeous lady who was by herself at a bar."

The look on her face told him that the pieces were starting to gravitate towards each other, arranging themselves in a picture that was familiar, even in her own time. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"You mean he was trying to... incapacitate me?"

Jack nodded gravely. "I suppose he was trying to test a new drug on you but I cut in before he could take you someplace. I don't think he realized we were together or I'm sure he would have went for someone else."

Rose shook her head and took a sip from her mug. "Not that I wanted to be drugged, but I'm almost glad it was me and not some woman there with no one to watch out for her."

Jack smiled softly. That was so Rose.

The galley door slid open, effectively cutting off his reply and the Doctor walked briskly into the room.

"If you're all done lounging, I think it's time we get this show on the road."

Jack turned towards the Doctor and propped his head up on the table, a pout immediately forming on his lips.

"We weren't lounging. I was checking on Rose."

"Well she's fine. I checked. It's time to go."

Jack turned to Rose and she rolled her eyes but said nothing. The Doctor spoke again and pulled Jack's attention back.

"Go on then, get something to eat if you were going to, and we'll be on our way."

He noticed the Doctor's gaze lingering on Rose before he spun on his heel and left the room. Jack turned back to Rose and pointed his thumb over his shoulder, where the Doctor had been.

"Jeeze that guy, can't he ever take a break?"

Rose laughed softly. "He's been taking a break for the last few days."

She drained her cup and stood up to place it in the sink. Rose then walked over to the door.

"I'm gonna go to my room and clean up a bit."

Jack gave her a funny look.

"See you in a bit."

When she left, Jack wondered what had happened between them. He wondered once again if she remembered what had happened, particularly what they did. Whatever was going on, he was going to make it his mission that things were set right between them. The look of pure bliss on the Doctor's face when she had kissed him was enough for Jack to know without a shadow of a doubt, that those two were meant to get together. He'd do everything in his power to see it done, and in these kinds of matters, he liked to think he had a lot of power.

Now that they were on the road again, things would go back to normal. He grinned. 

No, better than normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes this is the last part and I wanted to say thank you to everyone who read this. I intentionally left this open for a sequel because I do intend to return after I've refined my writing skill a bit to write it.


End file.
